It Ain't Easy Being Green

We were at a party Saturday night when my friend, Lourdes mentioned to me that I am "green", lime green actually as I also have some "yellow" traits.

She was referring to the "color" of my personality.

I had no clue what she meant, but it sounded interesting enough. I'm always open to learning new things so I was intrigued.

Lourdes explained to me that she is a "blue". Blues are exuberant, motivated, people-persons, and maybe a little on the loud side. She said that "blues" drive most "greens" crazy. Since I'm not completely green (my secondary trait is yellow, remember?) I don't really have a problem with blues.

Obviously not, since I've loved Lourdes since the day I've met her, blue trait and all.

On Monday morning, while I was attending my Life Coaching tele-class, I decided to multi-task and do a little research on the colors of personalities. With the phone on "mute", I found a couple tests online and took them (I had to take a second test in order to confirm the results of the first one. It's a "green" thing)

Lourdes had nailed it. I am green (with a side of yellow)

As fate would have it, the mere fact that I was intrigued by the concept and felt the need to research it, is an indicator of my "green-ness".

"Green people have a deep seated need to study and learn things. They are logically minded and rarely content to blindly take someone else's word for things." We green people need to understand issues for ourselves and frankly, can get a bit perturbed at those who don't approach life in the same manner.

The information I uncovered actually helped me understand myself better. Some aspects of my personality that have bothered me most of my life, can be explained by the fact that I am green.

Not that it makes it any easier. It doesn't. It just helps me understand, and understanding is very important to green people.

For instance, I usually feel isolated in a crowd. I often wonder if people even like me. This is because I look at the "statistics" I've calculated in my head and realize that by no means do I seem to be a "people magnet".

Here's an excerpt from one of the paragraphs I found:

"It's not easy to communicate with greens ... their ideas are often expressed in an overly complicated manner ... some people avoid talking to greens ... it's no surprise then, that greens are delighted when someone takes the time to carefully listen to them and respond with intelligent feedback. In fact, it may be hard to shut them up once they get going."

Hmmm .. ok. Fair enough.

It went on:
"Since greens represent a minority (they're the least common of personality colors) in most populations, they generally grow up feeling isolated from others. They may attend social events, but remain apart from the group, usually conversing with other greens. This may cause them to be viewed as anti-social by other colors."

There were several things I didn't like about what I was reading, even though according to my calculations, at least 80% of it rang true.

"Greens can be oblivious to the emotional responses of others. Some people may feel they don't exist to a green and may react to this unpleasant feeling by attacking the personality of the green. This generally causes the green to be surprised and perplexed. They do not understand the cause of the attack and will seldom strike back"...

"When they do strike back, however, they are capable of biting sarcasm that can be devastating to the person to whom it is directed."

At that point, I decided it was ok to pick and choose from my internet findings concerning "greens".

I am not oblivious to emotional responses of people at all, but I have been told I sometimes come across as cold in nature. People who know me well also know that isn't true. I'm a very warm and caring person.

I DON'T do drama though, so maybe that's where that aspect of my personality comes from. I do, however, have a deep respect and appreciation for sincere emotions ... and can tell the difference between the real and fake stuff in a heartbeat. If someone is sincere in their emotions, I'm there, and I'm definitely compassionate. (That, thanks to the "yellow" side of my personality)

"Greens take their time in making decisions." That's because we analyze things until we're absolutely convinced. We can be "knowledge junkies" because we're always searching for facts to back our findings.

"Greens are concerned with precision in language." (hello! This is why I'd rather communicate in writing than verbally. It gives me a chance to re-read and process what I am saying.)

and on it goes ...

"Greens are perfectionists and hold extremely high standards for themselves. They are often frustrated at their inability to meet even their own standards. Greens are constantly accumulating mental lists of things they should know and should be able to do."

Here we go ...
"Greens are drawn toward occupations that involve formation and applications of scientific principles (Umm, wanted to be a Medical Lab Technologist since age eight .. hematologist for most of my adult life ... analyzed uranium samples for a living for several years ... )"

Among other scientific fields, greens are drawn to CRIMINOLOGY. Hence my lean toward the "dark side" at times. Give me an afternoon of "Forensic Files" or "Dr. G. Medical Examiner" on t.v. and I am a happy camper.

Best and most appealing of all the statements I uncovered concerning the green personality type was this one:

"Greens are right almost 100% of the time!" This is because as greens, we think things through before we say them out loud. Long before our assessment of a situation leaves our lips, we've dissected it. We pick our battles, in a sense, because we hate to be found lacking. We like to be accurate and don't want to give the impression that we aren't.

So there you've got it. I'm green. Like it or not, that explains a lot.

On the other hand, I am not always so green. I happen to be quite convincing as a speaker (as long as I've had a chance to prepare and a microphone isn't shoved in my face unexpectedly, in which case my words will no doubt come out zombie like and unappealing)

I've learned to push myself to do "people" things. The last year has been one of great stretching and growing for me, and I am pretty proud of the results. I am a great listener, a trait that ironically enough helps immensely in my pursuit of a Life Coaching career. (That's normally more of a "blue" occupation)

So, maybe in my latter years I am evolving ... changing like a chameleon from green to yellow and on to blue in order to accommodate the demands of my surroundings. I can see where that may be a possibility. After all, I started out as a "green" and everyone knows, we "greens" can do anything we set our minds too!


(Quotes taken from insightlearning.com )