Do you really want to go to that party, or would you prefer a quiet evening at home?
Like a library over meeting new people?
Don’t like being the center of attention?
If may be you’re what’s known as an introvert.
It was psychiatrist Carl Jung who coined the terms introvert and extrovert for primary personality modes. In fact, he wrote a book about it, The Psychology of Types (1921), that made him famous.
Introverts shy from crowds; extroverts prefer them.
Introverts like alone-time; extroverts, where the action is.
Neither is superior to the other, both featuring strengths and liabilities.
How do these modes bottom out? Research suggests just a third of us are introverts.
That can make things difficult for introverts in a world that tends to pass them by.
I’ve done several personalty tests. No doubt about it, I’m classic introvert, the good and bad of it—shy, moody, distant, but also sensitive and caring, lover of all things beautiful like music, art, poetry, an intellectual read and, of course, nature’s solitude.
I prefer space.
It isn’t I don’t value companionship. I’ve cherished salient friendships across the years and, though it seems contradictory for an introvert, I experience nostalgia for friends who can never be retrieved, annulled by time’s entropy and mortality’s specter.
If you’re introverted, you’re likely in a good place.
Introverts often display not only keen sensitivity, but above average intelligence. If you believe the statistics, 70% of those excelling in art, music or math, i.e., the gifted, are introverts.
They include Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Meryl Streep, and J.K Rowling.
Warren Buffett did a Dale Carnegie course to overcome his shyness.
Dr. Seuss, that master of children’s books, was afraid to meet the children who read his books for fear they’d be taken back by his quietness,
Is it nature or environment that fashions who we are?
Psychologists think it mostly genetic.
But it can get complicated.
Some of us, seeking balance, become omniverts, or combinations of both dispositions, depending on the situation we find ourselves in.
On the other hand, ambiverts, and that’s many of us, while displaying a personality mix, still lean one way or the other.
If you want a good read on being an introvert, I highly recommend Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking:
The highly sensitive tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather than materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive. They dream vividly, and can often recall their dreams the next day. They love music, nature, art, physical beauty. They feel exceptionally strong emotions–sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy, and fear.
That’s me and it may be you! And that’s not a bad thing at all.
–rj
Brimmings: up from the well 