[Hitch]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I always thought I was an extrovert. I can talk friends' or family members' heads off. But then I was given a Myers Briggs personality test and it labeled me solidly introverted. When I read the definition - that it's not necessarily the inability to interact but *where we get our energy from" - I understood.

Ah. Is that the definition? Never paid that much attention to it.

After a busy day at work, I just want to go home - yes, alone - and play with the computer. (I miss my cat. Sigh.)

I'm sorry for your loss. Never forget that there are MILLIONS of cats, every day, seeking new homes, at shelters, who would love to help you be happy. :-)

I dread holidays with families (mostly because of the running, screaming rug-rats who are my great-nieces). I almost always have to be coerced to go to a get together, but I usually do enjoy myself, as long as I can find a friend or two to have one- or two-on-one discussions with.

OMG, that's me and Mr. Hitch to the nth. His sister has grandchildren, of the running-screaming kind. (One of the boys is intellectual, thank god, and reads. I'm sending him books like crazy, to nurture any sign of a brain. He never has been the "performing" kind, either, so I suspect introversion/shyness there.) But the others are thrust into the spotlight to entertain us each year, singing, dancing and the like. Now, that in and of itself would not be dreadful, but there are HOURS of very loud practice, before the grand entrance.

But at the end of the interfacing - I need to go home, maybe grab a book or get online - and recharge my batteries.

I am usually physically exhausted by the time we leave to head to our nicely empty (of people, not our cats) and QUIET house. The whole reason we put up with the horrid inconvenience of living where we do is the quietude, which is unmatched in any place I've resided, here, Europe--anyplace.

The book said extroverts actually are energized by interacting with others! Blows my mind.

Hmph. I confess, I don't get that either, but I've seen the effect in others. (I've also seen this in horses. Yeah, sounds weird, if you are not a horse or animal person, but some horses simply turn it all on, the moment they step into a ring at a show or competition. I had a fabulous showjumping mare like that. I assume it's the same thing. In horses, we call it "presence" and it cannot be taught. They have it, or don't.)

Question: do we think that introversion and shyness are the same thing? Are they always hand-in-hand?

{SIGH} Crappity, you just reminded me that Xmas and the concomitant family get-togethers are right around the corner. BUGGER.


Hitch