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Stop Being an Uptight Jackass
Lessons from a reformed Type A personality
Back in 2002, I hosted the family Christmas Dinner. All of my in-laws were in town. In situations like this, I tend to be a little over the top. Shocker. I also suffered from horrific perfectionism and major Type A Personality issues. All of this was a recipe for disaster.
I had conjured this amazing image in my head of exactly how that dinner was going to go. That was a mistake. I even hand made placements and napkins. I have no idea what the Martha Stewart Living I was thinking. Who the hell does that?
As you can imagine, something went wrong. It was small. Something I was making didn’t come out…perfect. Anything less than perfect was unacceptable because I made napkins, damn it!
The temper tantrum I pulled following this could have registered on the Richter Scale. I slammed pots and pans. I snapped at people. I fought back tears.
I pouted for the entire rest of the night that I was sure I had ruined.
I did this for years after until someone reminded me that no one had the expectations of me that I had of myself. They told me I was being an uptight jackass. It was for my own good that they said…
