Sunday, January 22, 2006

Various thoughts, various topics

I hope you enjoyed the photos in the last post.

Anyway, down to business. It has been a long while since I last sat down and put my thoughts into writing-many reasons. So I thought it best to do some serious thinking and contemplating over the happenings of the last few weeks and the comings-up of weeks to come.

This past few weeks have been alright; the only exciting/out of the ordinary thing that happened was that Melissa and I started up our mentoring sessions again last week and a wedding. Other than that all that I have been up to is work, catching the rare movie with a friend & organizing stuff for chow. As you can imagine I was driving myself crazy with boredom on many occasions. I am definitely looking forward to heading back to uni in 3 weeks time.

I've been continuing my reading of Perfecting Ourselves to Death by Richard Winters and it's been going good. I'm only up to chp 7 as I've been very good with following my strict instructions of only ONE chapter a week. The further along I go in the book, the more enlightened I feel. I never knew that all the mad stuff I do and the crazy way I function had an explanation that could be put into words so that people could understand why I am the way I am. As promised, I would give you the low down as I went so here is the next installment...

He has 5 categories for perfectionists types:

  • Performance perfectionists: Their motto is"I achieve, therefore I am"
  • Appearance perfectionists: Their motto is "I am how I look"
  • Interpersonal perfectionists: Have set ideas about how things should be done
  • Moral perfectionists: Their motto is " I behave perfectly therefore I am"
  • All-around perfectionists: Their motto is "I am in control therefore I am"

Funnily enough, I fall into the last category. Here's a little blurb about all-around perfectionists......"All-around perfectionists are concerned with high standards and excellence in every area of life. Performance, appearance and morality are all extremely important. The all-around perfectionist merges into what we call the obsessive personality where there is great concern about order, organization, rules and lists, and great attention to detail". It blew my mind away when I read that coz he summed me up extremely well.

Then he goes on to talk about obsessive compulsive disorders and obsessive compulsive personality. This was another part that I found really helpful. He explained the difference between OCD and obsessive compulsive personality, which is that people with OCD "do not want or like the symptoms", whereas the person with obsessive compulsive personality "does not wish to be rid of their tendencies and, in fact, thinks that they are healthy and should be emulated by others". After reading that, I have now come to realize that I have an obsessive compulsive personality. I think ALL of you would probably agree with me on that one!

Sarah and Rhett got married two Saturdays ago and it was beautiful. I had a great time and that wedding was special to me-it was the first wedding of MY friends. Before this I had been to weddings before but they didn't really mean much to me. I just got tagged along with relatives and didn't really know the bride or groom that well. This was different; it was Sarah & Rhett's. It has been a great 7 months being their friends and I'm looking forward to more fun-filled times.

We started a new series on Jan 15 called Re:ve-lation. We are exploring Jesus-who he was/is, was/is he who we are expecting? It's been hard to get my mind and keep it on the message at times coz it's just so full on. But the bits that I have been getting out of it have been good and challenging. Will fill you in when I get my head around it all.

A couple of Thursdays ago, Melissa invited me over for dinner. I was really excited and it was so worth the wait as I slogged it out at work during the day. For entree we had silverbeet, red onion and goats cheese puff pastry parcels on a bed of mesclun. For mains it was an amazing plate of roasted capsicum, courgette & aubergine served with a lamb tagine & yoghurt rice with almonds & coriander folded through. It was absolutely divine.......but fellowship was great too. Jake, Melissa & I ate and drank (great wine) all nite. I made a grapefruit curd tart for dessert. Coz there was alcohol in the mix, I crashed at their place. All in all, a FANTABULOUS nite! Thanx for cooking Melissa & thanx to both of you for the hospitality.

Next week holds a rather busy week for me. I have my saxophone lesson on Monday and then it's Mel & Ty's wedding in Hamilton on Saturday. Looking forward to that-it'll be the second of 4 weddings this year! Someone has taken the week off at work so they needed extra help therefore I am working 4 days instead of my usual 3 days. I managed to get the 'easy' shifts so it shouldn't be too bad (at least I won't be bored!).

On Feb 7, I will be checking out the girls that I might potential coach at the new gym club I am hoping to start out at. They are competitive kids between the ages of 6-9 yrs old. I was ecstatic when I heard that coz that is exactly what I've been wanting to coach for a long time. Hopefully it'll work out-the girls & me but also in terms of uni timetable.

Cell group will probably start back during the first week of Feb. I'm looking forward to that but days and times are all up in the air thanx to me with potential gym coaching and/or uni timetable. We'll see what happens.

So...only a few weeks to go before I get back into a routine. However, before that happens there is much that needs to be done so for now I bid you Adieu

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I should get a copy of that book for school. I suspect we have a lot of each of the different types, especially the last!

It would be good for them to recognise why they act as they do.

Bronny

jeanie said...

Well....I guess it'd be good just for teaches to understand perfectionism as a whole then they'll know how to handle the girls better. And yes, it would help the girls too.