As an introvert, I know the pain of group projects. As a project perfectionist, this pain doubles. As someone who's easily annoyed, it triples.
Those with similar problems know. In high school, we sat there, listening as two of our group members spouted off ideas that just weren't quite right; they were irrelevant, unimpressive, uncreative, or on a bad day (when we were not the best versions of ourselves) we thought they were flat-out "stupid." However, if you were like me, you said nothing. Speaking up was not worth being disliked.
One day, we vowed, silently, One day, I will never work on a group project again.
Flash forward. I major in anthropology, an incredibly collaborative field. Fellow anthropology students and I work on projects together, study together, and fill in each other's notes. My professors tell stories about arguments they have with my other professors during excavations. They are close friends who yelled and fumed for all or part of a whole day, under the hot sun in Ethiopia, because they were so passionate about their own interpretations, and the kicker is that they would not be so close if they didn't respect themselves and each other enough to have the fight, and anthropology might suffer for it.
This sounds irrelevant, but in my mind, it isn't. Even the thought of this kind of confrontation is the sort of thing that would have a younger, less mature version of me running for the hills. I thought I would work alone. I thought if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.
To some degree, I'm still like this. I'm independent. But I've come around to a much different way of thinking, and, to follow a theme, it's because of anthropology. I have learned that any step forward humans have taken as a species, we have taken together. Globalization makes this even truer. But that sounds like an oversimplification, doesn't it?
Take our own country, for example. Some say we have never been this divided as a nation. And, on an even smaller scale, take my own story (anecdotal evidence, but I think we can all relate). Some of us love being alone. Some of us hate it. Some of you probably understand exactly where I come from when I say I prefer to do my own work, others completely disagree, and feel they do better in a group.
But whoever you are, you are you. Due to a number of factors perhaps too astronomical to count, you have a unique perspective, and thus, you have a way you think things should be done, a way we should approach problems, and opinions about the future we should be striving toward.
It's a difficult thing to reconcile. Much like wolves, humans are truly social. We want to be liked, and on the whole, we want to get along. In situations most impacting the individual, this can be an issue. Even now, my friends are in the room, and that makes writing this piece difficult. I wonder if they think I'm a killjoy. Part of me wishes I had the option not to even think about their opinion; part of me wishes I was alone. Many will know what I'm talking about when I say that we are tempted to do stupid things to impress others or improve our relationship with them.
It's a difficult thing to reconcile. When we're striving for the good of the future of our own (and other) species, how do we remain ourselves? How is it possible to be alone, together?
Because I love to irk my readers, I offer this question and suggest no answers. But I will say that I think being aware of the issue is our first step in finding a solution.
