When You’re A Type B Personality (But Neurotic As Fuck)

Firstly, God bless anyone who genuinely thinks anyone falls 100% into any particular category – especially a binary, black-or-white category. You can be a social introvert or antisocial extrovert. You can have the majority of personality traits in a Myers-Briggs category, but not all of them. And you can be something that isn’t entirely Type A or Type B.

I spent a good amount of my life assuming I was Type A because I was always ambitious (sometimes too ambitious) – and I was always high energy and quite emotional and incredibly critical of myself. Yes, I wasn’t that competitive of a person, and I defaulted to messy and disorganized if I wasn’t careful – but I couldn’t really be a Type B Personality. Right?

And then I started actually reading about Type B personalities – not just resting on the (false) assumption that a Type B personality is essentially the lazy cousin of Type A. It took learning that Type B personalities tend to gravitate towards more creative endeavors, empathetic behaviors, and reflective thinking to realize I fit more into Type B than Type A. I just happened to be a Type B personality will a propensity towards anxiety and neurosis.

Like being a homebody outdoorsman or an outgoing shy-guy, living with such contradictions can make life interesting. Being a Type B personality (but also neurotic as f*ck) means:

In group projects, you really have no interest in competing for control, but you sure are worried about getting a lousy grade.

You walk that fine line between being petrified of bombing an important assignment while also being chill with everyone’s input. This is easy when everyone is contributing like they are supposed to. Not so easy when group members are sleeping on the job or the person who put themselves in charge is a f*cking moron.

You really hate that everything’s in disarray and you can’t find anything…but to fix that involves cleaning.

You hate that you have to check your closet, the hamper, and the washer/dryer for a certain item of clothing. You really don’t like running around the house to find your keys when you’re already running late, but who really has the time to meticulously fold clothing or, y’know, put your keys in the same spot when you get home? Those color-coded baskets your Type A roommate suggested are now glorified odds-n-ends bins.

You play on a sports team to have fun and get some exercise, but everyone else’s competitiveness is stressing you out.

Guys, seriously. It’s intramural soccer. I’m here to make friends and avoid the gym. Can we stop getting so worked up that our team is massively losing? It’s making me want to go home and eat potato chips.

You seriously hate being late to something, but you just can’t get your sh*t together in time sometimes.

You’ve mastered the “deep breaths at a red light” stress-reducer. You’ve also perfected the, “I’m so sorry – I’m running late!” text. But, for the life of you, you just can’t get out the door when you wanted to.

Your daily planner is laughable.

You got yourself one of those daily planners and you have a Google Calendar shortcut on your phone, because you hate the idea of missing an appointment or accidentally double booking yourself. Too bad you only use it sporadically. Sometimes you put events in the planner after they have happened, just to make yourself feel better.

You’re a fanciful, optimistic, daydreaming mess…who is petrified it’s all going to come crashing down on you.

Everything in due time, everything for a reason…but oh my God, what happens if you lose every single thing that brings you joy in life? Take the road less traveled – y’know, unless you get lost. Then you’re f*cked.

Everyone assumes you’re Type A.

And – hey – maybe you are. But, like, a Type A-. Maybe a B+. Actually, now that you think about it, maybe you’re not anything. But, man, why did you mention something in the first place? Now all these people think you’re lying. How are you going to change that misconception of yourself? Well, this afternoon is now ruined…

Actually, being Type B makes you pretty good at being ambitious.

Fear of failure? Fear of the end result not looking exactly like you imagined? Not a problem over here! There might be a nagging voice that is really, really worried you’ll fall flat on your face, but even that won’t begin to stop you in doing what inspires you. A focus on the here-and-now and not on what the finished product will mean feeling a little more sure of yourself as you potentially dive into something that might not have an endgame in place. It means you’re a little less likely to get caught up in the details.