Neuroses

I am prone to what I'm going to call "protege" and "side-kick" syndromes. All my life I've been attracted to brighter (not in the intelligence sense, but in the louder/more attractive/attention-grabbing sense) individuals. So I become the side-kick. (Insert name) and Kat, almost like an afterthought. I typically don't mind. How could I when I do it to myself? Or in more extreme cases, I'm drawn to people I find more talented, more sure of themselves, more intelligent because they challenge me to become better. But almost inevitably I will slip into this role of protege. They have something to teach me. And the levels of respect become drastically off-kilter. I will find myself in conversation with them and really excited when they agree with me. Not because we have something in common but because I "answered correctly". And while I can't say that's out of character, because this is obviously a flaw in my character, it's not something I agree with or ever thought that I would do.