Writers – most creative people, really – can be a touchy bunch. I know. I’m one of them. If asked if I’m easy to get along with, I could only say I try to be.
My youngest brother is the exact opposite. He’s the easiest person in the world to get along with. If he’s the “duck” of the family, I’m the porcupine. I more often turn “quilly” rather than let situations and stressors roll off me.
It isn’t that he doesn’t have high standards or that things don’t bother him. He does good work and works hard. Some things do bother him, too, but, if they do, they’re serious things indeed. He doesn’t get upset about trifles. He goes with the flow. In the words of our mom, he’s “phlegmatic.” He’s all right with letting things be instead of trying to fix everything or figure out the rules or reach a conclusion.
His personality is what allows the two of us to get along well. Oh, he drives me mad when he doesn’t do what he knows he needs to do, but he puts up with my go-go-go and “fix ALL the things” attitude in a way that some people – ahem, the middle brother – can’t. The middle brother is a bit too much like me at times. (Don’t tell him. He thinks our similarities are a falsehood fabricated by our mom.) He and I are the ones who know what needs to be done and immediately put a plan of action into play. We do not rest easily, my middle brother and I.
That said, he and I have made great strides. We don’t have the infamous rows we did when we were kids – perhaps age sometimes does result in wisdom. I know, though, that I still have a long way to go toward being the person I believe I’m called to be and that person is someone who is easy to get along with.
Image: Heidi Schuyt (Creative Commons)