If you are a glass-half-full person with a relationship to a glass-half-empty person, do you balance each other out? Or do the scales start to tip in favour of one or the other eventually? What I mean is, what's stronger, positivity or negativity? Does it make any difference that for 2 days out of 30 the normally half-full glass is suddenly to be found smashed and broken on the floor? Does that upset the status in the long run?Tell me what you think, I want to know.
A conundrum.
ReplyDeleteSo long as the other one is willing to pick up the broken glass and hold the mantle for those two days out of thirty it will all work out.
Opposites are supposed to attract, aren't they? You always need an up to your down in a relationship, it balances you out. Being up all the time would be terribly boring.
I think it does balance out, in the long run, as long as it was pretty even to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI mean if the half-full glass was not quite half-full, it could be tipped towards half-empty, you know?
Heidi
Oh yeah, I know that one. Actually, we just take it in turns to be the half-full or half-empty person. Sometimes we are both half-full, sometimes both half-empty. Not good when we are both half-empty.
ReplyDeleteOr something.
Dunno. On the two days out of thirty, does Mr. Half Empty act supportive and say that well, perhaps the glass wasn't quite as empty as he'd thought, and why don't you have this nice chocolate he got for you and get some rest while he makes dinner?
ReplyDeleteDang, cool photo!
Oh boy. I'm the ghf one too, married to the ghe one. The thing about the gfe temperament is that it's not likely to try to make any compensations for those 2 days, so during that time, it may just feel like WTH, and this isn't worth it and the world is falling apart, and I don't need this kind of s#!t. But then those 2 days end, the sun comes out again, and life goes on in all its manageable beauty and harmony. The tough and annoying thing about all this is that the burden lies with the ghf to see the family through. So, not balanced, in part, but there are many other factors in the equation that may help the ghf see reasons to stay. The ghf is good at seeing the other virtues in ghe (most of the time). I'd say snuggle up to those beautiful children and surround yourself in things that make you shine during those days, and try to minimize the interaction with things and others that don't.
ReplyDeletep.s. I didn't mean to sound so bossy!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say, GHF trumps GHE any time. Positive always overrides negative. All the darkness in the world can't extinguish the light from one tiny flame. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tracey. I am mostly a half-glass-full kind of person, Rob is mostly the opposite. But there are days when we completely reverse roles. Occasionally, we are BOTH half-empty and those days we just trudge through. Somehow those days seem the longest.
ReplyDeletexx
That's not an easy question to answer. It does seem that opposites attract, and having both be GHF types might get in the way of having a realistic idea of what's going on in your world! I would say I'm the GHF type, which gets me called Pollyanna a lot. I wouldn't say the OC is a GHE type. He's just more realistic and logical---a "just give me the facts" kind of guy. As long as the GHE person picks up the shards on those two days, and, as Tanya said, brings you chocolate, and offers to make dinner [even if that just means picking up the phone!]everything in the garden should remain rosy....
ReplyDeleteGee... life is far less complicated when you're single!
ReplyDeleteStomper Girl, I feel exactly the same sometimes. My hubby is definitely a glass-half-empty kinda guy, whereas I am more positive. (Yet there are times where my positivity slips, and he is able to take the role of reassuring ME)
ReplyDeleteI think it can be frustrating at times, and, like Meggie, I call my hubby Grumpy Old Man. Yet he has so many good qualities that I just figure it is part of the package that is him (like being snippish when I'm overwhelmed is part of the package that is me!)
Ultimately, I believe positivity will triumph over negativity - even if that is merely us being able to let our GOM husbands be grumpy/negative when they choose to be, without it dragging the mood of whole family down.
This is a very long comment, isn't it? Better stop now. Have a wonderful week!
Love the tacit assumption that you are ghf, that anyone who is ghf for 28 days and shattered for 2 MUST be female... I'm interested to know ghe's reaction to those 2 days. Opportunity to step up? Run away? Join ghf on the floor?
ReplyDeleteWe have a variation on this relationship - rollercoaster and steady head (aka as grumppy old man). Rollercoaster wishes steady head could join her on the heights, but then steady head looks at the depths and stays right where he is, tempering both extremes. 2 rollercoasters would end up with motion sickness and 2 steady heads would die of boredom I think..... Hence the whole opposites attract scenario. Does that mean everyone wins?
Just had to laugh at how completely ghf that last comment "everybody wins" is...
ReplyDeleteToughie. Ovah heah the half-full contingent are pretty much on 30 days a month, so that might skew the results.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the two balance out...or have for the last 15 years.
-J.
P.S. An optimist has no brakes, but a pessimist has no engine.
Sueeus' comment is really resonating with me.
ReplyDeleteAs you know my husband and I are opposites in everything. There are lots of times I crave a little understanding.... we are still trying to work out the balancing act.
I don't believe in 'opposites attract'. Most people are attracted to their own image. IMO.
ReplyDeleteI seriously could not live with a 'cup half empty' person - they drive me mental and I always want to slap them around a bit.
But then, so do those fruity overly-happy people. Slap-slap-slap.
I'm a happy realist.
I am not sure about the shattered glass- often the GHE doesn't step up to the plate.
ReplyDeleteWe seem to have reversed roles. When younger, I was a little inclined to be GHE now, I am GHF, whilst GOM is definitely GHE.
An interesting point was raised about which one is the GHF- the supposition that it is the female is a little ... skewed? or correct?
2 glasses ...one half empty, one half full ... Combine in larger glass and what do you get?
ReplyDeleteIts a balancing act.
Being a dancer, you know this. Trust your instinct.
I'm of the I'm-just-glad-there's-a-glass school. My husband is definitely the glass half full. Sometimes it's annoying. Actually, a lot of times, it's annoying. But I put up with his cock-eyed optimism and he puts up with my cynical bitterness.
ReplyDeleteBy my reckoning, with a glass half-full and a glass half-empty you're still half a glass short of a block of Cadbury chocolate.
ReplyDelete