Every Girl Has Five Personalities

[Robert McEvily]

Tumblr is a fun way to enjoy bits and pieces of this and that.  It can be tricky to give proper attribution, as posts tend to be reblogged over and over by different users.  I came across this piece - I'm assuming it was written by a young woman - and thought it might make for an interesting discussion.  (It's sort of six sentences too, which pushed me to post it here.)  See what you think...

[Robert McEvily]

I think it's the other way around.  It feels to me like when you start doing things, making choices, etc., you get labeled, and then those labels force a personality on you that may or may not be accurate.  Does that make sense?  Not sure I'm getting at what I want to say...

[Deborah Jovan Reed]

It's forgetting how she acts around strangers/associates(non-friends).  Is him a lover or the masculine identity of God?

I have about eleven personalities rattling inside here and they like to take turns at unexpected occasions -- hmm, does having eleven personalities taking turns on a regular basis constitute one personality with eleven voices?

[Robert McEvily]

You should start your own private choir!

[Deborah Jovan Reed]

would try but they don't always listen to the conductor.  :)

[Kristine_ES]

why is it that we break ourselves into pieces in order to adapt to whoever is around? why must we be the "me" of the moment, instead of the same old me all the time, so you always know who you're getting? 

do men have multiples also? or do they cope in different ways? 

verrrrrry interesting.

[Robert McEvily]

I'm trying to get better about the multiple personality thing.  I used to have a recurring nightmare when I was in my 20's...  I arrive at a party, and I see my best friend Ralph, then I see some people I work with, some people I used to go to school with, then I see my parents, my sisters, famous women I'm attracted to... and I start to realize I don't know how to behave.  I behave differently with different people.  The "Every Girl" piece really struck a chord with me.

[Robert McEvily]

Love what you're saying.  And I love your FONT - very kick-ass!

[Anna Gilbert]

Question well-answered. 

[Cita]

For this discussion I recommend reading Jean Shinoda Bolen.... She wrote "Goddesses in Everywoman" and "Gods in Everyman."  Archetypal psychology. VERY intriguing look into our depths.

[Robert McEvily]

Cool.  Thanks Cita.

[Robert Crisman]

I think character dictates action and action in turn shapes character's further development. 

Personality is an aspect of character, the aspect that is, as Other pointed out, what's seen by others. Of course, we never quite see ourselves the way others see us...

I think that personality operates much the same way in regard to character as symbol does with regard to whatever reality it represents: as both clue to what the thing really is and as a guard that stands in the way of fully sussing it out. Personality and symbol may draw you in, but you have to dig to get to the real.

As for those five personalities, I don't think guys are much different than girls. I keep thinking of Eddie Haskell for some weird and wonderful reason.

[Gita]

This five reminded me more of a high school girl than an adult woman. 

 Don't we at some point  settle into who we really are, and isn't our behavior driven by core values?

Yes, when I get together with my group of  BFF women friends (since 1983) I am looser and wackier than I am with colleagues at work.  And I laugh more with my spouse when we are alone than I do with casual acquaintances. 

But if other people start spouting racial or political ideas that go against my core beliefs, I won't smile and agree with them just to be nice, just to fit in.