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| "Split Personality" by Steven Wilson |
Over the weekend I read a really interesting column by Q Weekend senior feature writer Fances Whiting on the multiple personalities of her husband titled “How many men do you live with?”
She had names for each of his personas – the ‘hoverer’, the‘re-packer’, the ‘accuser’ and so on depending on her husband’s actions and how he reacts to certain situations.
This got me to thinking about my personalities – it’s easy to pick out those in others and be, you know, a bit critical, but I think sussing out your own personalities will help you to control them when they start showing signs of developing a mind of their own...
So here it goes…
THE STRESSER/MISS NEGATIVE
What I would probably call my most dominant personality, this girl always finds things to stress about. She is a very frustrating person to have around because she’s often on edge and snappy, which annoys her husband and people she works with. Even though she is aware that she is stressing, she finds it difficult to calm down often getting herself into anxious fits of destruction. She tends to dwell on the negative. THE HEALTH GURU
This side of my personality likes to lecture people about being super healthy and maintaining a good level of fitness. She is interesting in holistic and organic cooking, nutrition and different forms of exercise and meditation, but at times, fails to practice what she preaches, occasionally stuffing her face with chips, chocolate or cheese (this often happens when her enemy the Stresser comes along). She likes to take loads of supplements and vitamins and this makes her feel glowing and full of health. THE POSITIVE ONE
Paying almost daily visits, this girl helps bring confidence and clarity to things I really want in life. She focuses only on the positives and eliminates negative vibes, only looking forward to things that will bring happiness and light to potentially bad situations. She is the one who grasps on to dreams and things I want to achieve and with her optimism, helps to make dreams into reality. THE WEEPY ONE
Unfortunately, there is a side of me that can pretty much cry on cue… and mean it. She is a cry baby who hates fighting and disagreements, will shed tears over sad stories on the news, beautiful stories about children or people who have fought through illness. She will get upset over seeing road kill, or stories she has heard about animal cruelty… She often cries over mistakes and things that have happened in the past and on the flip side, will cry happy tears over milestones (birthdays, anniversaries, achievements etc). She often needs to be reassured and can be highly sensitive. MISS COMPETITIVE
She basically just wants to be better than everyone at everything. Those are just a few – I am made up of several more (some I'd prefer to keep behind closed doors, such as a particular girl that comes out only in the bedroom for my husband) but I’d say those are the more dominant ones.
I’d say we should all go through this exercise of acknowledging our own multiple personalities before we start criticising those of others. Hey, it might just be the reality check you need.
To read Ms Whiting’s column in full go here:
