I went to see a career counselor a couple of months ago who had me take an aptitude test (per my request) to figure out what the hell I should be doing with my life.
The test wasn’t very helpful. It was geared towards corporate careers, which I’m not interested in, but it did bring up one peculiar thing about my personality. It recommended that I LISTEN and consider different points of view before making a decision. My first thought was ya ya, I got it. Then the counselor asked me if I often felt like I “got” things fast, and wished I could “ya ya” people to shut up. I said yes, that in fact it happens to me quite often.
I don’t know everything, but there is a certain protective wall I raise when people express their opinions, especially if they are different from mine. Like a defense mechanism to prove that I am smart, despite my short height and strong foreign accent.
A lot of the time my “ya ya”-ing has nothing to do with a difference in opinions at all, but with a difference in what constitutes common sense (which, in my experience, is not common at all).
For example, if I have been bugging my husband to call his mother all weekend to figure out if we’ll be coming over for dinner on Monday, and he decides at the last minute (Monday ay 5pm) to go, I expect him to inform me of this so I get on the correct train (home or his work). But apparently that IS too much to ask.
Thankfully I happened to call him before getting on the train, therefore saving us both an evening of apologies and disappointment.
We kissed and made-up. Now we’ll get to enjoy our evening. It just made sense.
ina