Personality

Fiona, a fellow blogger who lives in Paraguay, wrote quite a good post about what life is like for people who are introverted - particularly in missionary situations. I am an extrovert (albeit mildly so) and needed the reminder that people who do not behave as I would, or as others might tend to expect them to, may be "not wrong, just different." Thanks, Fiona!

It's funny, isn't it, how cross-cultural differences go clear down to the individual level? I mean, in a sense every relationship we have with another human being is cross-cultural. This makes the possibility of experiencing broken or strained relationships quite a bit higher than it might be otherwise.

I went through a season close to ten years ago when I started finding patches of common ground with everyone - I could identify with just about everyone I met. That perspective has lessened some over the years, but I think it's something I want to hold onto and cultivate.

Lately, though, I've been more aware of (and intimidated by) the differences. And in particular, I've found myself fretting that because others are different from me, I had better be careful or I'm going to squash or offend them by saying or doing the wrong thing. (The awkward-teenager-within-me often seems ascendant, rather than the-grown-woman-I-am!)

There's a keen line, sometimes, between keeping "be a good friend" high on one's person priority list, and being a perfectionist about it. If I think I can make someone happy or keep them from being sad, I'm taking too much onto myself.

Well, in a friendship (like in a marriage?) the secret may not be to avoid troubles or conflicts but to learn how to work through them or diffuse them.

* * *

By the way, work is going great, have I said that?

I've always loved my job, the work itself, but in the wake of The Late Unpleasantness the office has often been a less-than-encouraging environment.

Now, however, several factors that had really hurt our relationships and corporate culture have made a complete turnaround. I will be out of the office quite a bit in the next week or so, and am rather sorry to be gone.