Type A?!

Having gone over intelligence, emotions, motivation, and human development in psych, we are now going over personality. There still isn't a single definition for the word, "personality" since it refers to something abstract...but there are many theories on the subject. One theory in particular grabbed my attention and it was not even proposed by a psychologist! Ray Rosenman was a cardiologist who incidentally noticed certain traits in his patients. When the professor described the different types of personalities Rosenman discovered, I nearly shrank in my seat because it felt like he was talking about me!

People classified as Type A are those who are always in a hurry and never have the time to do anything. They hate having to wait for anything, they hate lines, and they hate vacation. They are multi-taskers and are very competitive people. They cannot do something for the sake of doing something - Type A's are very competitive. They're workaholics! These people also tend to eat fast and walk fast... Type B people, on the other hand, are more relaxed.

If I weren't Asian, my eyes probably would have popped out! It's amazing (and really horrible!) how incredibly accurate this description is of me. As much as I'd like to deny it, there is no question about it. I am Type A! *sobs*

I've always known there is something wrong with this personality of mine. I've never felt as if I truly belonged in this world because I'm always out of sync with everyone else. I can't bring myself to...relax. The scary thing about the description of Type A people is that almost everything is true about me, except that I don't hate vacation...but maybe I did last year, when I was bored out of my mind. ;_;

But it is true that I am always rushing, rushing, rushing. The prof mentioned how his older sister was a Type A person. She was always stressed out, so he told her to come down to Hawaii for a vacation. "I'll teach you how to relax," he said.

She came here from Colorado and asked him, "Okay, so tell me about this relax thing. How do you do it?!"

Hitting balls have always helped him relax so he told her to a golf course. He was having a good time, swinging away. When he turned around to look at how she was doing, he discovered that she had already finished hitting the entire batch. She thought the goal was to hit as much balls as possible in the shortest amount of time.

After returning to Colorado, she called him up and said, "You know, what? You're right about this relax thing. I've got a golf appointment at 3 and then I'm going fishing at 5..." And the list goes on.

The point is that she even scheduled her "relaxation" time. She was back to herself.

After hearing all of this, I was starting to wonder if there was any hope for Type A people...a cure, perhaps? It is obvious that we are no fun to be around. The prof suggested that we make everything extra slow for Type A people, such as getting them an extra slow car, etc. But I can just imagine how irritating that would be! DX

Maybe I should feel better to know that it wasn't just me. Type A people act like this because...well, that's just how they are. They cannot help themselves. I have an excuse now; there is actually a reason why I am this way. But it's funny to realize that there are actually other people like this that exist out there! O_O Frightening, isn't it?

Now the prof said that all of this [characteristics of Type A behavior] was fine, as long as this one thing added toward the list: hostility. That's when you're more likely of getting a heart attack.

Oh, boy. ^^;
I'm not hostile!
But I shouldn't cheer. ~_~