Significant Other Personality

[Ana]

Does your partner have a personality very similar to yours or complimentary to it (having some fundamental similarities but important differences that help diversity your relationship)?

How did you meet (how old were you) and when did you realize you wanted to make a commitment?

[Andrea]

I'd say that the BF and I are very complimentary to each other. We met about two and a half years ago when he moved to Memphis and joined the team that I was on. I got to know him through group rides/races, and we eventually became best friends...

Honestly, I knew he was awesome when we were on the road between Memphis and Nashville going to the first race (of many) that we split gas for. We'd been talking the whole way, and I suddenly realized that we were almost there when it had only seemed like a few minutes (though it was almost a year later before we really "dated" )

[Heifzilla]

Does your partner have a personality very similar to yours or complimentary to it (having some fundamental similarities but important differences that help diversity your relationship)?

How did you meet (how old were you) and when did you realize you wanted to make a commitment?

DH is my polar opposite. He's an engineer and extremely logical, and I'm...not. While it can be a crazy ride sometimes it mostly works well because we both help each other to see different viewpoints on things and/or ways of doing things. I guess on things like raising kids, though, we have similar viewpoints, so we're not totally opposite. It works.

We met when he was 17 and I was 18, starting dating a year later, and we married 8 years after that and just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary last month. *I* was ready to commit 2 or 3 years into the relationship, DH was not It worked out, though, and that was one of those "opposite" things that I can look back on and say he was probably (*probably* right about.

[Ana]

Just realized I posted this thread in the wrong spot

My apologies!

[Tuckervill]

My husband I met at a mutual friend's wedding, in 1986. We didn't start dating until April, 1989. We were engaged by August and married in January, 1990. He was 25 and I was almost 27 when we married. We spent our entire relationship apart, and got to know each other over the phone, and I think that HELPED cement us together.

I think we have complimentary personalities. We're not polar opposites. I'm sunny and upbeat. He's a little more mellow, slow with praise and affection, but very very sensitive. He's also very perceptive about people's characters, and will be able to pick up on when people are lying, etc. This has helped me numerous times, because I trust EVERYbody until they prove untrustworthy.

Karen

[shootingstar]

I met him when I was 31, but we really didn't getting goin' until a year later.

Our personalities are complementary-- his formal training as an engineer (but really wanted to be an architect), etc. probably makes him logical, etc., but with some capacity for visualization. (then I finish the rest of visualization for him ). But where he deviates here, he can if he chooses, to have a graceful persuasive and patient style of communicating at length in a non-technical manner.

He came into my life at the right time, just prior to him I was wanting to return to cycling. I also suggested that he should get involved in cycling advocacy, given his natural good skills. He didn't get around to it until a few yrs. later.

I'm the sort of person that tends to speak in metaphors, images and half-sentences since I love wordplay, wordsmithing. Now artsy people get it, but he tends to want full sentences to be absolutely aware of what is being said. If he didn't know a 2nd language (in a half-bastardized way) then he really would be pissed off at my style.

He is a neat freak, I am not. But we are both organized, just a different style. EAch of us are reliable in terms of being on time for meeting, getting things done, etc. After all, we don't have cell phones as a couple to communicate to one another, so we heavily rely on each other in the 6th sense, etc.

Neither of us, would shine as the party animal /party leader in a crowd. Nor either of us are the jokester/comedian. We are each similar as plodding along, doggedly getting something done eventually, even if no one else is supporting, noticing or cheering what one is trying to do.

[smilingcat]

I met my partner at a dinner party ooo about 18 years ago. She was going through her divorce and I was going through mine. Needless to say, we had lots of commonality back then. We are best friends to a point its like we are sisters more than anything else. for simplicity sake, we just go along with the term partners.

She's the artsy type and me more of an engineer type. But I can also see things in artsy way too, so I guess I'm borderline bipolar?? Anyway, she keeps me well grounded in a way I need to be. I keep her grounded in a way she needs to be. And I share my house with her. After what we both went through with our respective divorce, we have zero interest in getting married again or for that matter dating again.

I need my best friend to keep the dark cloud away from my head. She has a wonderful way of making me smile. And I bring bit of stability to our lives and an ear for her to talk. We are complementary in areas where we need some balance, not being so far out in the left field, and similar in areas to have connection between the two of us. Her dogs and my cats are our pets as an example.

for nearly twenty years of knowing my partner and living under the same roof for the last 5 years or so, we have gotten along just wonderfully peachy. and that't the truth. Yup she's my family.

The short answer I guess is complementary and similar. Complementary in a sense to fill in the deficit not to mean opposite.

[lph]

Our values and basic outlook on life is very similar, our personalities are complementary. I'm waaaay more easily moved, angered, inspired or brought down, he is very hard to spark and has an inherent dislike of raising his voice. Thank heavens for that. Two of me would have been a disaster. I had to learn to wait and listen, to not override him and let him say his part, and to see how he expresses himself, because he does, it's just not plastered all over his face. He keeps me sane and safe, and I love him to pieces for it

[Mr. Bloom]

Definitely complimentary.

We met while I was dating her freshman roommate. Our first "date" was actually a bizarre event, concocted by her roommate to be near me at a football game, but it really did backfire on her roommate, and two months later Silver and I were a thing, and they weren't roommates anymore...But, that's a thread by itself

I'm a neat freak - she's definitely not, I'm the romantic - she's not, she's creative and artistic - I'm not, she's lean and mean - I'm chubby (albeit less than I used to be), she's competitive - I'm not.

[TrekTheKaty]

Sounds like someone is evaluating their own relationship!

We worked at the same place and were friends. We started dating after his divorce. Our overall personalities are similar--laid back, homebodies. We work in the same field, which helps us sympathize with each others work problems.

However, I'm more likely to spend while he's frugal. I'm the talker, while he's more quiet in public. I'm organized and he likes to go with the flow. I get upset and he's introspective. I used to have a temper, but he doesn't participate so we don't fight :-) He's the slob and I'm the neat freak.

I truly believe our relationship is the best pattern. I know couples who are too much alike (both are spend thrifts) or have nothing in common (they can't sympathize with the other's desires/problems).

I used to run marathons and he even tried jogging around the block, but hated it. Cycling is finally something we both love. However, he's so much faster than me that I can't keep up. I'm extremely competitive and I hate it when he leaves me behind. But we've learned to compromise to keep cycling fun!

[Pax]

My partner and I are polar opposites, except in our values and morals. We've been together almost 20 years and while it took us a long time to figure each other out, at this point in our lives we're quite comfortable together. Our differences now compliment our lives as opposed to interrupting it.

[Ana]

Sounds like someone is evaluating their own relationship!

Almost: I'm reflecting on relationships in general. I love hearing about other people's lives and how they came to find their place in the world

I am currently single (and loving it) but am approaching the age when many of my friends and colleagues my age are getting engaged and married.

[Grog]

My partner and I are polar opposites, except in our values and morals. We've been together almost 20 years and while it took us a long time to figure each other out, at this point in our lives we're quite comfortable together. Our differences now compliment our lives as opposed to interrupting it.

Are you me?

We're not at 20 years yet, still at the "figuring each other out" (about 4 years together). But regardless of that it works well. Fantastic, isn't it?

[Aggie_Ama]

My husband and I are very different and very similar. We like the same things, at different intensities. He likes to camp in the cold, I like it mild. He likes to ride hard, I love to meander. He hates running, I love it for stress release. We disagree on some politics. We like the same music. I have a short fuse, he likes to keep it in and is more introverted. We are both relatively shy and have very dry senses of humor. We are both fiercely loyal and very close to our families. We are also both incredibly stubborn. I am a spender, he is frugal. I am a hopeless romantic, he procrastinates so he usually just gets a card but when he does something romantic he hits it out of the park. I am organized but not a neat organized, he is scatterbrained.

I don't remember meeting him. We both bowled a lot, I was the cute girl he didn't want to really have anything to do with because of my temper and very competitive nature on the lanes. But eventually he wanted a date so he asked me out. I was 16, he was 17. We fought hard to make it through long distance (twice, once married!) and through the growing pains of college. We married when he had just turned 23, I was 22 and fresh out of college. He took two more years to finish up. We have been married almost six years and things change but we seem to ebb and flow together.

[tctrek]

My DH and I are mostly opposites. We met in 1987 when we were both in our mid-thirties and we worked at the same place. He is very laid back, absent-minded, never worries, lives for the moment. I am very intense, a worrier always thinking ahead. We need each other to balance out the weirdness of the other. What do we have in common? We are both opinionated and bossy and when we both are cat lovers.

In 22 years we have never, ever had a fight. It's quite amazing. Even if the intense part of me wants to fight, the laid back part of him won't allow it. So, we just talk through the problem. We are together all the time... we work out together, shop together and most of all ride together. He's truly my soul mate and I don't know what I would do without him.