America was founded on the principles of freedom, the melting pot of diversity, individualism, all attractive concepts, especially to an Introvert. Today, however, America has become an outward and upward society, conquering, building, competing, buying out, improving—extroverting.
There is a misconception that all Introverts are Shy People. That needs to be corrected. The definition of an Introvert is someone who has an inward orientation to life. An Extrovert has an outward orientation .
Introverts prefer thought, gaining energy by reflection .
Extroverts have the opposite preference, they tend to gain energy by interacting with people.
Introverts who are not shy experience feel comfortable at first in a social situation but get tired and mentally overstimulated as they process more and more social information Introverts retreat from the crowd because they crave solitude; shy people stay on the fringes because they don’t know how to get in. So, being an introvert does not mean that you are antisocial, asocial, socially inept, or shy. It does mean that you are oriented to ideas-whether those ideas involve you with people or not. It means that you prefer spacious interactions with fewer people.
And it means that, when you converse, you are more interested in sharing thoughts than in talking about people and what they’re doing.
Introverts are energized and excited by ideas. Simply talking to people, what they do and who they know, is noise for the introvert. He’ll be looking between the lines for some meaning, and this can be hard work! Before long, he’ll be looking for a way out of the conversation.
Introverts prefer to look at life from the inside out They gain energy and power through inner reflection, and get more excited by ideas than by external activities.
They think first and talk later. Writing appeals to them because they can express themselves without intrusion.
Above all, Introverts listen well, and don’t compete for attention.
Extroverts love “people”, can walk a room full of strangers easily, and are generally upbeat, keeping things “light”. They are the planners, the party people that consider solitude “lonely” as compared to the Introvert who considers solitude a safe haven, that is energizing.
Roslyn M. Rolan, CIP