Turbulent Personality Traits

Turbulent Personality Traits include:

  • Optimistic
  • Hard working
  • Goal oriented
  • A leader
  • A contagious spirit that gets others excited and invested in joint projects

Likely the thought of a “turbulent” personality didn’t inspire the words of strength written above. People with turbulent traits have a number of strengths, perhaps so many that they have a hard time recognizing how some of these strengths can become imbalanced.

If you have turbulent traits you may be optimistic and enthusiastic about life. Likely many people around you benefit from such positivity. Others may come to you for leadership, to manage, to problem solve, or depend on you in times of their own waning hope. Reliance on optimism, though, can come at the neglect of other emotions, and spouses or others in close relationships might have shared pain with you around this. Not only can close family and friends become tired by your enthusiastic energy, they may also feel minimized at times- that their concerns/problems feel overpowered by your optimism. Perhaps you’re used to “fixing” problems and finding solutions, when what your partner needs is empathy.

Being hard working and goal oriented, you might be successful in your career. You might also find that you prioritize work over self-care, and work past your own healthy boundaries to the point of exhaustion. At other times, people can rely on business and work (even if it’s a less effective work style) in order to avoid deeper emotions.

Are there ways in which you might focus on your to-do list in order to avoid deeper emotions? Or, are there ways you might stay so busy with your responsibilities that you have run out of time to sit with, identify, and share your emotions? Do any loved ones ask you to stop fixing, and empathize more?

Continue being optimistic, a leader, continue setting goals and working towards them, and as always, consider how to do so in balanced ways.

 

By Catherine Lowrey, PsyD Licensed Clinical Psychologist

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