What Do Type A and Caretaker Personalities Have in Common
I just had a new client email me and I was reminded how sad it is that women athletes really do have a lot to figure out and potentially deal in order to be good athletes and achieve the goals that they want to achieve.
On the other hand I was chatting with a colleague yesterday and she asked me why men don’t seem effected by much of the emotional stuff. I said to her that some men are effected but a majority of men are able to let go of situations and move on which means that many men just don’t ‘hold on’ to things and have an uncanny ability to just roll with whatever happens. To a certain degree, women can learn from this because women have the opposite tendency and they hold onto a lot which in turn results in them needing to work through much more.
What do type A and caretaker personalities have in common? Women and in the case of this client and many of my other clients, women athletes dealing with life through eating disorders. Several of my clients struggle with eating disorders. It is pretty common for women in the Olympic, elite and professional realm of athletics. A lot of these women are type A personalities (some for good and others for bad). They will do anything to be good at their sport even to the point of burnout. On the flip side, they really don’t know how to take care of themselves. Some of them have taken care of others, some have not gone through the individuation process and some of them realize they have maladjusted coping mechanisms. The combination of these things (burnout/ED/lack of coping mechanisms) can be disastrous particularly when their goal is completely opposite: to be the best they can be. In this scenario they are going about it the only way they know how, bumping up against adversity and then realizing they need to be doing it a bit differently.
People have challenges in life and am saddened by all of my clients challenges because I want better for all of them. It’s unfortunate that we grow up given unconscious messages how how to think, feel and act and at some point realize some, much or all of that is not working but is hindering us.
It’s at that point you have the fortunately ability to choose to do something about it. It’s not going to be easy after having done things the same for many years but it is possible and I am here to help make it possible.
For a free initial consultation please email me: drmichelle@drmichellecleere.com
Happy Saturday!
Dr. Michelle
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