The Arrival

‘Life was handed to us in a balance of pain, gain and a bit of strain. So do not tire yourself looking for utter, whole and complete happiness all the time in vain.’

This was a lesson that an old friend of mine had learned in his years maturing. Many of us were thrown into the world in the early adolescent years thinking that there was nothing in the world that could stop us; the world would not retaliate but rather, abide by your every want and need. It seemed like a daunting task. How could one expect to find, let alone, understand his identity in a chaotic environment blossoming into adulthood? Little did our minds comprehend, the further we ventured forth in life, the greater the discovery in the depths of one’s own self. However, with those rewards of finding yourself, comes a hefty burden of trials—as my good friend Boromir once said,

“One does not simply ‘get’ a life.”

This statement holds to be incontestably true when my old friend had met three temperaments while growing up. The three were Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic.

Choleric was generally considered as the proud, extroverted ‘alpha’ of the species. He aspires to be a leader or a director due to his desire of being in control of situations, to be on top, to be the best. He is firm and forceful in his approach to problems. Prevalent to his belief in ‘tough love’ and tries to ‘help’ others by challenging them to prove themselves, as he would. His confidence and demanding nature make him a natural overseer, though this does not mean that he would necessarily enjoy leadership positions; he is just more likely to take charge if necessary, rather than fumbling around worrying. He feels that he can define and understand and advise others but laugh at the thought that others could do the same to him. This is because analyzing and defining another puts you in the superior position while being defined would put him in the inferior position, which he resists. Choleric is extroverted in the sense that he would meddle in others’ affairs and ‘speak his mind’ if they feel it is necessary, rather than minding his own business. Choleric strives for independence because to be dependent is to rely on others, to not be in the superior position and dependence is weakness. Consequently, Choleric came to my friend at a time where he was feasibly at his lowest. Suffering from a mild-depression upon enrolling in a new school, of having everyone in his batch disregarding his presence altogether for an entire year without an absolute reason. Startled by the unexplainable dismissal, anger, and temper boils together to form a character that pays no heed to the opinion of others and only wishes to see through every matter personally to not be ridiculed. In other words, Choleric came to his aid first to pick him up from the demise of society’s rejection.

A little ways down the road, he is met by Melancholic. Melancholic was an emotionally sensitive, perfectionistic introvert. She is an idealist who wished for things to be a certain way, and they get distressed when they are not. She holds herself and others to unrealistically high standards and get distressed when these standards are not met. This leads to her being self-deprecating because she does not meet her own standards. Moreover, critical of others because those others do not meet her standards. Her generally dour demeanor comes from their inner struggle between an imperfect world and a desire for perfection. For the most part, she only wishes to learn and to understand, to know the details of every little thing, because to be ignorant is to stray from perfection. She is not content to just accept things the way that they are. She is inquisitive and asks specific questions to come to a clearer understanding—leading her to be an over-analytical, neurotic worrier. She is very pessimistic and assumes the worst due to these unrealistic standards. It is much easier for her to reject and hate things than it is for her to love and embrace them. Melancholic is the most introverted of the temperaments in that she craves time alone and are most at ease in her own company. She can enjoy spending time with others, but this drains her energy, and she needs alone time to recharge. Though it is not a behavior to despair over, much of her introversion comes from her perfectionism. She is meticulous about the sorts of people that she associates with; people who meet her standards and share her outlook. She can be seen as being selfish, because she prefers to be alone with her thoughts, to have her own things, rather than sharing time or possessions socially with others. She is usually very possessive about the things that she owns and is reluctant to let others borrow or use them, because she treats her own things well, care about everything deeply, and will worry that others will not look after them with the same level of care. Being very emotional. She is moved deeply by beauty, and by distress—being very easily hurt, because of her perfectionistic tendencies. Hence, Melancholic had imbued her personae onto my friend at a time where he...

I hope you've found the story engaging thus far! Judging by the stats, if there seems to be a significant demand/interest in this article, that'll mean word of mouth on the story has been spreading, leading me to put forward the final part (where Phlegmatic is introduced, and further details are discussed on what happens to the beautiful soul that meets these three personas)!Thank you for supporting my passion, fellow readers,Kindest regards.