Are We TOO Different From Each Other??

Laura and I have always come at things very differently; while Laura is more sociable and outgoing, I am shy and awkward. When Laura has the option to get creative on something the end result is amazing, when I get told to get creative I FREAK OUT!

While maths has never been a major strength of mine, I am comfortable with logic. I’ll come up with ideas but they will be based in experience and come with a plan and will therefore take longer to form; Laura’s ideas will come out of left field, right field, just about anywhere and be immediate.

It may explain why our initial meetings started things off badly and meant we came to the obvious conclusion - we ‘just aren't the same type of people’ and should therefore avoid each other unless the situation brought us together.

Thankfully, plenty of situations did bring us together and now almost five years later I am so grateful, we are still very different people in our approaches but rather than that being a bad thing it’s actually a real benefit – especially in life!

Without Laura’s creative, out-there ideas we’d never have goals and do things, without my logic and need to plan and understand everything it may not have turned out very well. I love nothing more than making L happy, but I need to always think of the long term and not just the present when making a decision. I need to know logically any decision makes sense and is well reasoned.

So that brings us to the right-brain / left brain theory – have you heard of it? To me it’s the best way I can explain why we are so different, yet work so well together:

‘This theory of the structure and functions of the mind suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different “modes” of thinking. It also suggests that each of us prefers one mode over the other. Experimentation has shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking’ – from www.funderstanding.com

Most people have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking but some are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes.

If you want to find out what you are check out the test here: http://en.sommer-sommer.com/braintest/

As much as I know Laura and are perfect for each other already, there is now further evidence to support it. We did the test and Laura came out as 62% right brained and 38% left. I came out as 69% left and 31% right! So as a couple we are 93% right brain and 101% left (yay, extra logical)! Could we be better matched?! (We don't think so!)

Crazy huh! And a real eye-opener for me in the sense that to make things work you really do need to accept and utilise the differences in your partner. I’m just lucky that L is probably more logical than the test shows because that girl can organise WAY better than I can, but maybe that’s because she can multitask and I panic in the details!

Take the test - what side of your brain is most dominant?