The One in Which I Explain Myself

Hello, blogosphere! I'm joining the party. 

This one time, my brother and I had a conversation that went like this:

Mike: What are we going to do tonight?
Me: I don't know.
Mike: We can't do EVERYTHING!

This phrase has become a legendary joke in my family, but there's some truth in it. Yes, I'll submit that I can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and most recently, Instagram. But I refuse to Google+, Foursquare or Snapchat. I can't do EVERYTHING.

Even so, I've decided to blog. I've dabbled in it before, in a group effort to protect our country's religious freedom (you can check out our work at theamericanremnant.com). I've never written my own personal blog, but here we go!

Soooooo, let's talk about my strange, potentially-cheesy-because-it's-alliterated title. To me, "phlegmatic" sounds like I've got a disease, like I'm coughing up phlegm. The medical revelations I have from my nursing major friend are definitely a topic for another time. But actually, phlegmatic is one of the four classical temperaments. I refer you to this handy resource, which explains the bizzare names (it turns out phlegmatic does have something to do with phlegm after all!), and I encourage you to discover your own temperament: http://www.catholicmatch.com/blog/temperaments/

At any rate, I am phlegmatic: the chillaxed one. The "go-with-the-flow" type. When I say "I don't care, you decide," I (almost always) mean it. I tend to procrastinate, but on the plus side, I'm easy-going and good at keeping the peace. That's my temperament - "an individual’s tendency to react in a certain way throughout their life, forming an identifiable pattern," as the previously cited website states. Apparently I'm also about 10% sanguine (i.e., the happy people person), but that means I'm still 90% easy-going slowpoke.

On the other hand, I'm in good company: Blessed Pope John XXIII was also a phlegmatic! In his Journal of a Soul, he wrote: “Above all I am grateful to the Lord for the temperament he has given me, which preserves me from anxieties and tiresome perplexities… I have noticed that this disposition, in great things and in small, gives me, unworthy as I am, a strength of daring simplicity…”

Hmm... the Vatican II catalyst was a phlegmatic. I'm liking this!

Perhaps this also helps me to reconcile the fact that, although I'm phlegmatic, I'm intensely passionate about Catholicism, particularly about pro-life issues. I also have a dream of helping to reform youth ministry to make it more effective... partly due to pride, I've recently learned (ouch), but partly due to being captivated by the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As a friend told me recently, wherever God is moving, that's where I want to be!

I guess it all boils down to this: as long as we get to hang out together, I don't care what we do or where we go out to eat. But I will fight 'til the death to protect religious freedom, the dignity of every human person, and for all people to know Jesus Christ.

**Edit: I would love to hear about your temperament/secondary temperament, if you've discovered it, and what kinds of realizations you've come to about yourself through this process!