Un Cachito de la vida

Un Cachito

Un Cachito de la vida - A little piece of Cameron's life




Every once in a while I wax philosophical about myself and why or how I do things. I've longed maintained, humorously, that I'm socially schizophrenic. At work, I'm frequently outspoken, assertive or otherwise extraverted. I enjoy meeting and getting to know customers, and am generally well-liked by them as they get to know me. Now, switch over to my personal life, and I've historically been quite the introvert. Fortunately, that is changing at a pace that pleases me, but I still have a ways to go and I'm not the best at siezing an opportunity, preferring instead to wait for an opportunity to present itself on a plate before me.Even in seemingly unrelated areas, such as participation in Sunday School, I've also noticed some similar behavior. For those of you not familiar with the LDS (Mormon) church organization, it is a very organized, global church. You can go just about anywhere in the world and generally hear the same lesson in Sunday School as you would back home. Thus, when I travel and I'm on the road on a Sunday, I seek out the local LDS chapel and while the faces are new, I get to hear the same material I'd be hearing at home (sometimes in a language I don't understand!). But anyway, I've noticed that when I'm in a new or different ward (a geographically defined LDS congregation), I'm more apt to raise my hand and offer input and thoughts to the lesson. The longer I'm in the ward, the less I actively participate. This principle was reenforced yesterday when I went to a ward in the DC area and not only participated several times but also did something else I'd probably never see myself capable of doing.Another way of saying all this perhaps is that when I'm in my "comfort zone," I'm complacent and not really comfortable going outside my little zone. However, if I'm pushed way out of my comfort zone, I'm much more comfortable being socially active and assertive. My hypothesis for this action is that when I'm out of my comfort zone, I'm subconsciously thinking that I've got nothing to lose - that nobody knows me so it's not a big deal if I "mess up" so-to-speak. At the same time, I think it may be that the longer you're in an environment, your typical self starts to shine through and take over. I don't really have a perfect theory. Does this make sense to anyone? Does anyone have similar behavior, or am I really just schizophrenic or otherwise in need of a brain scan?

Posted by charr at 7:55 PM


Reader Comments

I'm not sure if I have similar tendencies, but I'm going to analyze myself the next time I'm out of my comfort zone.I'm curious though - what was it that you did that you'd never see yourself capable of doing?

Posted by dan at October 24, 2006 3:58 PM

Well, it's nothing earth-shattering, just something that's very un-me. When I was in Sunday School, I had two girls come sit by me and afterwards I got both their phone numbers and then set up dates with them that evening for this week. My standard SOP would be to think they're cute and nice and that's about it :)

Posted by Cameron at October 24, 2006 9:08 PM

Wow. I'm impressed! Do we get a report on the results later on?

Posted by dan at October 27, 2006 1:20 PM

I wish there were more to report, but nothing too exciting. One of the girls cancelled the night before but I had an enjoyable evening with the other down in D.C. I don't know when I'll see her again (since she's like 2000 miles away, but if/when I do), I'll probably call her up. I'm working some other channels as well.

Posted by Cameron at October 30, 2006 4:50 PM

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