Try to remember some things you hated to do with your parents when you were younger. It might have been cooking, cleaning, buying clothes, visiting relatives or just being in public with them. For me it was grocery shopping with my mother. I avoided this like the plague. Often I threatened “over my dead body”. This earned me my mom’s “get in the car, or suffer my wrath” stare and a free trip to the grocery store.

My score is Effortless in the second. My Mom's score is effortless in the first and fourth.

Outside of food shopping, I never minded spending time with my mother. I LOVE spending time with her. When I go grocery shopping with someone I see it as an opportunity to bond and catch up… while also picking up some food along the way. My mom sees it quite a bit differently. To my mother, a trip to the grocery store is like a well thought-out battle plan where the only way to win the war is to get every item on the two-page grocery list into the basket, through the checkout lane, and into the car in less than 15 minutes. Her preferred plan of attack is divide and conquer. As you might imagine, it’s a tiny bit difficult to talk to someone when they suggest you start on opposite ends of the store and meet back at the checkout lane three in 10 minutes.

As I watched my mother race to the right of the store, I begrudgingly dragged myself to attack from the left. The only talking I did included the few unrepeatable words I muttered under my breath at her as she wheeled her basket away. I disliked every second of it. The word “thankful” does not even begin to express how I felt when my brother finally reached the age where he was able to leave her side at the market and accompany me. And yes, there may have been a few times when I resorted to bribery.

Excite vs Execute Energies At The Grocery Store

It wasn’t until last month after I had been with 5 Dynamics for almost two years that it hit me. I was writing out my grocery list for that week when I realized that my mother has a lot of energy in Execute. She loves checking off her to-do lists as quickly as humanly possible. Now I have some energy in Execute too and I also like to complete things but for me that pales to the joy I experience being with and talking to people.

These traumatic events from my youth (cough, sarcasm, cough) finally made sense! It was always there; I just never had the words or understanding behind why these outings were so miserable . Our Excite and Execute Energies were going in opposing directions when we went shopping. The first thing I did when I had this epiphany was to call my mother and tell her not to worry, I finally understood why she tortured me. I felt great being able to share my feelings with her. And she felt great to cross something off her “things-she-didn’t-know-she-had-to-do-but-at-least-it’s-done-now” list. Another win/win by 5 Dynamics.