Last Saturday at a tailgate before the Ohio State game I had a very interesting revelation. I had gone to the tailgate with my big to meet my ggbig. (I know this sorority lingo is confusing but bear with me.) My ggbig graduated last year and therefore is not around very often. She invited my big, my gbig, and I to her family’s tailgate so that we would all have an opportunity to hangout together. This was my first time ever getting to meet her so it was very exciting.

Of course we were all very excited to get to spend time together as a “family”. We talked the entire time and eventually got onto the topic that I would like to discuss in the blog. After talking for quite a while and getting a better understanding of each of our own individual personalities we realized something very interesting. My personality matches perfectly with that of my gbig. My bigs personality matches perfectly with that of my ggbig. Therefore, this means that down the line each big had chosen a little with a personality different from her own.

The reason I believe that we all work so well together is that because each of our differing personalities is our way of balancing each other out. Many people have coined the phrase, “Opposites Attract” and I have to admit that many of my relationships with the people I feel closest to in my life could easily be explained by that simple phrase. In fact, this is not the first time I have realized that my personality has contrasted with that of the people closest to me.

Many of my closest friendships, meaning the people I would consider my best friends, have been different than me in a variety of ways. I have not spent much time thinking about why that is until the tailgate on Saturday and I am still not completely sure about it. I am usually a relaxed, laid-back type of person. I focus heavily on my schoolwork and whatever other activities I am in the middle of doing at the time. I am easily consumed by the things around me and fully devote myself to the tasks on hand. However, I have noticed that the majority of my friends are almost the opposite. I seem to be more inclined to be friends with people who are spontaneous and wild; people who put the thrill of life first and the dull moments second.

This attraction of opposites happens for many different reasons. I look to my friends as a breath of fresh air and they look at me to keep them grounded and level-headed. Although many outsiders to my friend group would probably see me as the crazy, wild one I know that I would be the person that each one of my close friends would come to if they had something serious going on and needed someone willing to give a serious, thoughtful response. This idea of opposite attraction is extremely interesting to me, and even more so now that I am able to recognize it, and I think it would be interesting to hear what other people thought about it or if anyone else could say that they have had the same experience.

Left to Right: (Me, Big, gBig, ggBig)