There’s nothing worse than being told to “chill” or “calm down.” As an extremely passionate, motivated person, I’m told that daily. It’s true that as someone who is type-a, I have the tendency to do “the most” in all aspects of my life. But, that’s just in my nature; I just operate differently.
That personality trait is not received well, especially in the “chill” collegesphere. If being laid back comes naturally, then do you, that’s great! But, just because not everyone is chill, it doesn’t mean they need to lighten up or change the way they work. If you’re type-a too then you know how annoying it can be to be told to chill all of the time. If you’re someone who can’t stand overly-amped people, refer to this list of one-liners “type-a” people can’t stand hearing.
“Don’t be so serious.”
This is the #1 thing to avoid saying. It’s hard to communicate passion without coming off overbearing. I get that. But just because you don’t understand where someone’s coming from, don’t offer life advice they didn’t ask for.
“Chill.”
Or any variation of that.
That will work if you’re looking for the next World War, but if not, then don’t go throwing around the word chill to try to pacify the situation.
“Have more fun!”
This one lights. me. up. Have people forgotten about the saying, “work hard play hard?” I have my own variation of that, “work it, twerk it” and boy do I live by it. Number one, you should be doing what you love, meaning that your work should be fun, for the most part. Number two, just because someone works hard during the day doesn’t mean they don’t hangout with friends or go out enough.
“You’re so young, enjoy it!”
Yep, fully aware of how old I am, thanks for the reminder that I’m young and loving it though! Why is it so weird for a young person to know what they want and go after it? I mean this truly baffles me. We’re always told to take advantage of opportunities that come our way, but then the second we take on more responsibility, we’re suddenly robbing ourselves of our youth. Interesting.
“Don’t take on too much.”
I love when people say this to someone who is type-a. They say it knowing full well that the person who the message is intended for will inevitably take on a lot- maybe too much. Yeah, taking on a huge workload is stressful, but it pays off. Don’t try to change the “method to someone’s madness.” If it works, it works.