Right vs Left

[ksmith]

Swiped from alfreda89.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, except that once again I'm straddling a line. I struggled with calculus and physics, yet majored in chemistry. Switched to an English/Art major in the midst of my chemistry track because I was sicksicksick of the sciences and the prevailing attitudes, then returned because I became sicksicksick of the English and Art majors and their prevailing attitudes.

I also returned to Chemistry because 1) I wanted to get a job when I left school, and 2) I felt like a Quitter because I had bailed.

I've never been 100% content in any place I've been. That can get wearing after a while. You're constantly fighting the sensations that you don't belong, that you're a screw-up, that you don't fit in. The never-ending feeling of being on the outside looking in.

And my, isn't this adamant for a Friday morning. Probably the "I need a new job" mood that I'm in.

Anyway, here I am, give or take a few points I'm sure...

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (72%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (62%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Comments

[amyirene-40.livejournal.com]

No wonder I can't figure out what I want - my poor brain is pretty much split right down the middle:
Right Brain |||||||||||||| 58%
Left Brain |||||||||||||| 60%

(and I definitely identify with your Friday mood.)

[hittite.livejournal.com]

Well, I am not very sure about this particular test myself:

Right Brain |||||||||||||||| 70%
Left Brain |||||||||||||| 52%

And then it says, for Right Brain:

...They are better at summarizing multiple points, picking up on what's not said, visualizing things, and making things up. They can lack attention to detail, directness, and the ability to explain their ideas verbally, leaving them unable to communicate effectively.

How do I get that when I say "Very Accurate" to the talkative and details oriented questions? Also, how would someone who lacks attention to details "pick up on what's not said"--I mean, people who can read between the lines do have attention to detail...

Well, I had a similar experience--becoming a Mechanical Engineer when you actually hate classical physics (which 90% of mechanics/mechanisms and machine design is based on) is kind of ironic. I did excel in the Fluid mechanics and thermo/heat transfer courses, which supposedly form an integral part of Mech. Eng.--funny nobody told the University to give equal access and importance to those 2 remaining pillars of the discipline.

I've never been 100% content in any place I've been. That can get wearing after a while. You're constantly fighting the sensations that you don't belong, that you're a screw-up, that you don't fit in. The never-ending feeling of being on the outside looking in.

What she said!!! Perfect summation of my mood for the past couple of weeks--then again, like you, I am actively looking for another job, so it is probably not too surprising. I sometimes feel like an outsider even in groups that I think I could and should belong to; which is the worst part of it all...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I tell myself that it's the price I pay for being a paid observer. But it can still be a little depressing.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how I feel about this, except that once again I'm straddling a line.

You say this like it's a Bad Thing.

Straddling the line means you're close enough to the analytical and to the imaginative to make use of both in all aspects of your life. Granted, not everybody is like this, and I certainly understand the feeling of never-quite-fitting, but I'd still view it as more of a blessing than a curse.

Of course, I would... *g*

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I think it has helped me regarding book research and working technical detail into dramatic passages (or passages I hope are dramatic). But the weird slippiness gets on my nerve. I'm a born Bachelors Chemist in a PhD world--past a certain point, the detail just slides around me because I've reached my limit. I don't care anymore. Enough is enough. Then I encounter people who are just a little too non-rational thinker, and I slip back into the other track. I live a life plagued by a constant undercurrent of frustration. It's a tiny undercurrent most times, but it's aggravating. I run into people who Think, and I wish they'd Feel, then when I find myself with people who Feel, I wish to hell they'd Think.

Going back to the test, I am detail-oriented, but not in the way the test is testing for. I get details eventually, in layers. As I write, or work at the dayjob, things occur to me and I insert them in an almost constant stream of backfill. But you can get away with that sort of sideways thinking more easily with a book than with a project, The book sits there and waits until you finish it--you have the time. With a work project, I need to grasp as many details as possible in the beginning so that things can be planned and scheduled. But I miss things, so I'm always patching holes.

Re: So I retook the test

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

...seeing as I had a chance to calm since the morning.

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (60%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (64%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com