Ok, so Perhaps Marc is onto something.
Many years ago, Marc lovingly (or so I thought 😉 ) coined the term “Rachaelism” as a way to describe many of my precarious and entertaining antics. I’ve always just shrugged them off without much thought with a reply such as “whatever!” But now that I’m going through an era of “self” – self reflection, self-introspection, self awareness, self realization, self actualization, etc., I am learning to embrace and accept all parts of myself, nuances and all, or work on changing the things that don’t serve me or others well.

What I am discovering is that most of my quirks are conditioned responses, most likely from my childhood experiences, that I have rotely carried forth (don’t we all.) without so much of a question as to logic, or rationalization.

Here’s a few I don’t mind sharing:

Meal times: Breakfast food is for breakfast, dinner food is for dinner. I use to think it an abomination when Marc would wake up in the morning and heat up spaghetti or some other left over dinner food.

Time telling: If asked what time it is, “5 minutes until 4:30 easily rolls off of my tongue, or “10 past the half hour.” It Works for me.

Respecting the sunday morning church hour: Do we really need to turn on the radio the moment we pull off the church grounds and listen to club music – ” ♫them apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fuuurrr, the whole club was looking at heeerrr, she hit the floor, act like you know, shortly got low, low, low, low, low, low, low♫.” Come on now! BLASPHEMOUS (or so I was raised)!

Compulsive: Once I start a project, I don’t stop until the job is done – I mean literally. Even if it means I start it early in the day and finish in the wee hours of the morning, I get it done. When I clean the house, I can’t just clean 1 room, ALL of the rooms have to get cleaned. I can’t just do 1 load of laundry, every single stitch of soiled clothing has to get washed, dried, folded, and put up. I can’t start writing and come back later, I have to sit and pound it out until its completed.

Reading: My leisurely reading used to consist of cook books, and my high school and college literature books. I could be found enjoying a couple of hours perusing each. “Are you really going to spend half the day reading that cook book?” Why yes, I just may!

Telling it like it T-I-S: I will give you the shirt off of my back, will champion and support my friends, family, peers, and will genuinely assist those within my ability. However if necessary, I will politely & tactfully let someone know when they are out of bounds or out of order. As Marc likes to joke, I can make someone feel like they’ve been respectfully cussed out, without even using a bad word.

Needless to say, as I continue to reinvent myself to a better version of myself, I look forward to freeing myself of the excess baggage that is not useful, but I also aim to continue to embrace those things that are part of the moral fiber of my being that make me uniquely me!