Complementary
by Ashley Weeks Cart
Her: You’re extremely passionate and expressive, and your enthusiasm is often contagious. You probably have a self-assured attitude that people are drawn to. You often use gestures and anecdotes to emphasize your points, and you tend to speak freely with little concern about filtering your thoughts.
Um, yep!
Him: You tend to display a great ability to think logically. In all likelihood, your goal is to find the correct answer to a given problem, and mediocre solutions or wild guesses will probably not suffice for you. You tend to avoid aggressive behavior, either on your part or from others, and you are likely to come across as a mild-mannered individual. In fact, you may seem quite reticent, and you are unlikely to express your feelings easily.
Double yep!
James and I both completed DiSC behavioral assessments, as part of work training programs. We shared our results with one another yesterday, and it was readily apparent (and none too surprising) that we are nearly polar opposites. I’m shocked that we’re not at each other’s throats constantly given how differently we operate in the world; but it’s clear that, for the most part, our differences are quite complementary, and we make a great pair and balance. That ying/yang shit. My optimism and spontaneity balanced by James’ skepticism and stability keep one another in check so that I don’t spiral out of control and James doesn’t remain stuck in a rut.
Of course, those differences also have a tendency to collide, which explains 99% of our arguments and conflicts – as we truly think and function in the world in very different capacities.
While we intuitively knew this about ourselves and relationship, it was fascinating to see it laid out so clearly before us. And it was a good reminder that we should be gentler on one another when we find ourselves frustrated by the other’s approach to solving a problem. We’ve just got different styles, but our hearts have been aligned for over a dozen years…