Tonight I went out for drinks with some colleagues and ex-colleagues - friends, really - and as we bantered about shared workplace traumas of the past, I felt myself realizing that I don't do this sort of thing nearly enough. I am solitary by nature and socializing with groups sometimes leaves me feeling a little drained. That's not a reflection on who I hang out with; it's simply the nature of consciously overcoming the convoluted mental landscape that occupies such a large percentage of my reality. I spend a lot of time in my own head, and interacting with the physical world takes more energy than it might for naturally gregarious people.
As a consequence, I've turned down a lot of opportunities to be social over the years - parties, BBQs, after-work drinks, that sort of thing. And yet when I make the conscious choice to go out and be social, I never regret it, because I value my friends tremendously and I enjoy hearing what's happening in their lives.
I'm not sure if I'm introverted or simply selfish with my time. But I hope my friends know that I treasure every second I've spent with them.
Well, maybe not that one time I got handcuffed into a shower stall.
2 comments:
You have defined the classical paradigm of the prototypical introvert. You missed nothing.
I doubt, then, that you have tried the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. It will set you back an afternoon of Voigt-Kampff style testing and maybe $100. I most highly reccommend that you try this out with Sylvia, using an accredited counselor. My wife and I took the test together as part of a pre-marital course. It was an extremely interesting and educational session, with a group discussion afterwards that really showed the difference and value of the respective introvert and extrovert mentalities.
I've taken the Myers-Briggs a few times, though it was the free multiple-choice-question version, so perhaps not as accurate. I seem to be an INTJ, and I think Sylvia came out the exact opposite, or close to it.
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