Some situations and the people involved turn out in interesting ways, and quite often, I just can’t explain why, how, and what to do about it. And since I am all in for analyzing and learning from past experiences, I started wondering: Maybe it’s me, not them? You be the judge!
How exciting!
I can’t help it. For ~90% of the time, I am just so overwhelmingly happy and excited about everything. There is no specific reason; there is just such a magic in every moment. I could be walking home and marveling at how tall the trees and buildings are, or I could be at work and really happy about the meeting ahead of me. So, if I keep exclaiming “how exciting,” I actually mean it. And no, I can’t share the ‘stuff’ I take with you—there isn’t any!
‘Rather alone than with you’
I’m an ambivert – really engaged at work (thank god, co-location is back!), or when I vibe with an event or a group; but I also enjoy my ‘time off people’. I try to spend at least one day per week alone, not talking to anyone, and just losing myself in my surroundings. Should I decline your suggestion to meet or travel together (in a very straightforward way), or deliberately plan my weekend to avoid seeing you: Yes, it is me who’s weird, not you!
The beach
Nothing beats the magic of a beach, or any location next to water. If the sunshine (or the lack thereof) allows for it, I will fall asleep and stay for hours. On a recent beach discovery day in New Zealand with a colleague, who was already used to my various weird traits, he did get worried about how long we’d stay. Looking at the heavy sky getting darker by the minute, he finally exclaimed: “Katia, if it starts raining, we’ll leave, I won’t stay!!” Yes, I am sufficiently reasonable to leave if there is a thunderstorm or if I get cold, don’t worry.
Incapable to make definite (personal!) plans
At work: Of course, I manage for outcomes and key engagement moments, and, of course, there is a plan to deliver them. And, yes, naturally, I will be at the meeting that we agreed to. Personal life: Committing to a fixed time for anything, even just for a coffee the next day, makes me anxious. People like me are the reason why fully flexible tickets and travel insurance exist. Having multiple flights and hotels booked and cancelling the ones I don’t want anymore a day before the trip is absolutely normal for me. How did my parents manage to book holidays a year in advance when we were kids? A mystery.
So much opportunity
You’re learning a new skill, and your first trials don’t even count as a ‘v0’. Or, you are at work and the problem you’re solving turns out to be worse than you thought. You’d expect I’d get annoyed if (when!) this happens to me, but all I can think of is “That’s great!!! There is so much opportunity to improve this!” And that’s objectively true, right?
Mondays are the best
Falls in the same category as ‘so much opportunity’. The promise of a new week with seven new days to discover, achieve, be thankful, and experience. Isn’t that wonderful and a reason to celebrate? With a very high probability, I’ll be (exceptionally) energetic and happy at my first Monday meeting, desperately trying to tone down my enthusiasm as I observe my colleagues’ Monday blues. But usually, I just smile on. Smiling is contagious, too, and chances are high that I’ll spread the virus. Note: I was also raised by two Russian parents, and we have two faces – poker face and smiling face; which actually is an expression of the same thing.
Move, always
I just love to move, constantly. To make up for the week spent in the office, my weekends are packed with active engagement. Watching a sports game or a movie? Only if it’s raining or I’m stuck on a flight or a train. Just lying lazily on the beach? Only to sleep (see above), or to tan more evenly. Otherwise, I’ll be pacing up and down the beach from early till late (love the Sydney northern beaches!). Taking an Uber? Only if I am really late, and the walk is significantly longer than 60 minutes (weekday: 30 minutes). And yes, I am the crazy girl doing yoga at the airport if my layover allows for it. In fact, I plan my layovers strategically to have enough time for a yoga session.
Skin on
Back in Germany, colleagues used to exchange stories about how to avoid mandatory military service by getting classified as ‘psychologically unfit’. “During the inspection interview, ask whether it’s ok to eat something, peel a banana, and eat the skin instead of the fruit, with a straight face.” (Yes, surprisingly, this trick worked for several people!). I think of this every time I eat a kiwi (or ‘Chinese gooseberry’) now: I started eating them with the skin on. I resisted for almost 3 years, and finally my New Zealand colleagues convinced me. And it’s actually pretty good, and so much easier! You should try.
Protein
Looking through my travel memories (Penang – sooo good for street food and just a short flight from Singapore!), my mum asks me what the stuff next to the oyster omelette is – cockroaches? Yes, I do have interesting preferences and really try to optimize my protein intake, but cockroaches? Really? “I thought maybe you’re also eating insects.” ‘Sadly,’ my weirdness stops at the level of just how much I love red meat, and how much of it I eat sometimes (ok, oftentimes).
If you ask me, eating kiwi with the skin is the only really weird one. Everything else is just fine.
What’s ‘your weird’?
Katia