LIFE TOPICS

For Anyone Who Has A Type A Personality

January 23, 2017 | Posted at 12:44 am | by Benjamin (Follow User)

Photo Credit: (photosoup, iStockphoto/ Thinkstock)

Most of my life, I have been an incessant planner.
 

As a kid, I always strived to be an excellent student and an overachiever. However, this actually magnified throughout my high school career. As a freshman, I came to the realization that I did not want to create a financial burden for my family if I was going to pursue a college education. I even considered joining the military, because they help pay for college. I then decided at an early stage to search for scholarships I was going to apply for my senior year. I browsed websites and looked at student profiles in order to emulate their accomplishments; this also gave me the drive to keep working hard.
 

Thankfully, my senior year in high school went extremely well. All of my hard work paid off tremendously. Not only was I accepted into every college I applied to, but I also was awarded a plethora of scholarships. One in particular– the Gates Millennium Scholarship–gave me the validation that my tireless efforts did not go in vain. I mapped this out at an early stage with my “Type A” personality and achieved what I set my mind to a well-thought-out calculative move.
 

Before my freshman year in college, I planned the organizations that I was going to join, and which leadership positions I would acquire.  I also became a cheerleader, joined an organization that focused on LGBT issues and navigated the necessary channels in the administration to gain respect. After my freshman year, I left feeling accomplished and that I could achieve anything at Georgetown.  I went home and began planning my sophomore year. But, little did I know that my entire life would soon change…
 

The summer after my freshman year, I went abroad with some family member to work for a non-profit organization that provided lodging for family members who had loved ones in a hospital.  It was there that I experienced a breakdown; I was hospitalized for two months.  I came back to the United States…a different person. In fact, I learned from my doctors that the best course of action for me to take was to take a semester off. I was completely distraught. I was going to miss an entire semester, and all of my plans for my sophomore year went down the toilet. I got kicked off the cheerleading team, because of an insensitive coach, I was unable to lead various organizations, and I felt that I “missed out” on many pivotal personal development events.
 

However, looking back, taking that semester off was one of the best decisions I ever made.
 

It helped me to learn how to relax. I was always on the go 24/7.  At times, I thought that I was “superhuman” and did not have to rest.  But I realized that just like working out, one must rest in order to recover and see results.  Due to my time in recovery, I now have a completely different perspective on life. I am able to step back and analyze a situation instead of impulsively making a decision, while not looking at the big picture.
 

I am writing this for people who may question their decision on taking a semester off as well as for people who might be so caught up in planning their lives. Look, life happens. Sometimes it goes the way you plan, and sometimes it just doesn’t. Yet that doesn’t mean that your life purpose will not be fulfilled. It doesn’t mean that in the end all of your dreams will not come true.
 

Instead, what might happen is that a better plan for your life gets put in place. It will be a plan that will allow you to live much more free, and a plan that will make you into a better you.
 

To anyone who might be currently in the same situation that I was in or to anyone who has a “Type A” kind of personality, the best advice I can give you is to take care of yourself first. Not only will you come out stronger, but you will also realize your greater purpose and the most important people in your life.