What’s So Wrong with Being “Anal”?

I know, I should have titled last week’s entry as What’s So Wrong with Being Lazy? But hey, what’s done is done. The point is that just as being lazy gets a bad rap, so does being “anal.” I know it’s a terrible thing Freud did in equating being neat and tidy with having issues with potty training, or whatever it was he was getting at, but while no one would argue there’s anything wrong with being neat and tidy, we tend to denigrate these attributes with “being anal” or the more updated and similarly psychiatric “being OCD. ” Why is everyone so embarrassed to be clean?

Being messy and lazy myself, I really have no idea. I always say, “Please excuse the mess,” when anyone enters my home and usually it’s pretty darn messy. I love when people ask me to excuse the mess when I’m obviously entering a very neat and tidy home and when I tell them so, they quickly admit to being OCD or anal. Really? That’s something you need to admit? Because let me tell you, my life would be much easier if I was naturally anal or OCD and not naturally messy and lazy. What’s worse is that many of the Pixie solutions for types like me, Organic Freedom (NFP) and Smart Freedom (NTP) are to push my preferences and channel the immediate impulses of the most anal of all types: Funs (SPs). Yeah, they’re not so fun when it comes to keeping things neat and tidy. They get kind of anal about it.

You’d think it would be those strict, practical, and to do list obsessive Classics (SJs) who are the most “anal” and while they often do have neat and tidy homes, they will go off the wagon much quicker than a Fun because they want to get things done, they have a schedule to keep and they don’t care as much about getting things done right as much as getting them done. A quick swipe of the counter is enough for them, whereas the Fun is going to do it a bit more thoroughly. And while you Funs (SPs) protest, we suspect you’re probably not even aware that you’re being more thorough. Um, you’re just doing it properly. So what if you’re a few minutes late to lunch? Classics also don’t feel the need to clean up right away (which might be where the whole psychiatric bent came into play). But you know those people who are always cleaning up at the party as it’s going on even if it isn’t their party? Yep, you’ve just met a Fun. They actually don’t even know they’re cleaning as they’re simultaneously also having fun. Seriously. I don’t get it either, but it’s true.

So what can we take away from such obsessive compulsive anal behavior? Well, it’s really efficient and it’s done without thinking it’s a chore. It’s a habit, or an impulse, and frankly, yes, sometimes even compulsive. But the results speak for themselves. Like I said, the only way I have ever had a neat and tidy home is when I’ve had a housekeeper multiple times a week, or have gotten into the habit of cleaning, and tidying as I walk through my house. It doesn’t come natural to me and the kids make it much harder to keep up — mix children with Organic Freedoms and Smart Freedoms and Sisyphus comes to mind — but I suspect that when the kids are grown and aren’t adding to the mess it will be much easier to keep up. We might actually gain a foothold.

Regardless, it’s time for our practical and adventurous Funs, and their slightly less stringent Classics brothers-in-arms, to stop excusing their neat and tidy homes. Really, no one who is naturally messy, or more relaxed about their clutter — ie. Organic Structures (NFJs) and Smart Structures (NTJs) who tend to have certain rooms that are always clean and tidy, whereas others that are allowed to get a bit more cluttered — is going to be offended by your neat and tidy homes. Seriously, we don’t secretly judge how tidy and neat you are by thinking you’re “anal” or are OCD, but we are starting to wonder how you judge us. Hmm. I take that back. Having a Classic Freedom (SFJ) for a sister, best-friend and business partner, we know exactly how you judge us, and mercifully, we really don’t care. So relax, kick of your shoes wherever you please and truly excuse the mess.