If a Party Were Held For Introverts, Would Anyone Show Up? (Or Would the Extroverts Crash the Party?)

I've survived by basically locking myself away from the world the rest of the time.

Introversion is NOT THE SAME as having social anxiety people.
Whoever said introversion is acting in a fearful way does not even understand what introversion is.

Hey Everyone,

I've been thinking a lot lately about introverts vs. extroverts and am wondering what all of your experiences have been.

I wrote in another post that I never really identified with either term until a few years ago, when I started to realize that I seemed to relate to the traits of introverts much more than extroverts. If anyone remembers the old Fantastic Four movies, there's a scene in which Susan Storm (played by Jessica Alba) is throwing all her strength into keeping up a force field, and it takes such a toll on her body that her nose starts to bleed profusely.

This is also how I feel when I'm pulled in too many directions, too often, and by too many people -- it starts to feel as if my soul is on the verge of a breaking into a massive hemorrhage.

I realize that many times in life, we have no choice (such as with work), but I'm also realizing that sometimes my lack of energy around socially demanding situations can keep me from obeying God's will for my life. I had a recent situation in which I was invited to a church event and declined, only to feel the next day that God was saying I should have put my own feelings aside and gone.

And so, I'm wondering how you all classify yourselves and how it affects your life.

* Are you an introvert or extrovert, and how did you realize it? What is your own personal definition of being an introvert or an extrovert?

* Did you grow up in a family of introverts or extroverts (were they the same as you, or the opposite of you), and did it help or hurt you?

* Do you feel uncomfortable around your opposites? (Are introverts uncomfortable around extroverts, and are extroverts uncomfortable around introverts?)

* How does being an introvert or extrovert affect your decisions when searching for a spouse, and would you want a spouse who was in the same category as you, or the opposite?

And, as a bonus question:

* Do you think being an introvert or extrovert changes over time? Sometimes back and forth?

This is something I'm pondering for my own self as well. I have often wondered if I started out as an extrovert but that some of life's challenges made it feel safer to retreat into a shell.

Thank you for sharing and I'll be very interested in reading your stories.

I've survived by basically locking myself away from the world the rest of the time.

I think I now realize why those people ask you to watch their kids. They probably heard that you never go out anywhere.

Introversion is NOT THE SAME as having social anxiety people.
Whoever said introversion is acting in a fearful way does not even understand what introversion is.

Introverts socialise in a completely different way to extroverts. Introversions draw their strength from their own thoughts and feelings on the inside..they are being internally focused

extroverts are people who draw their strength from others ..ex meaning external.

speaking of Moses one of the reasons why God picked Moses was because he was quite introverted, he didnt do things to be popular or please other people! If he had, there was NO WAY God would have wanted him to lead everyone out of Egypt because imagine if Moses started to cave and do whatever the Pharoah wanted just to be popular.

we know leading the Israelites out of .egypt wasnt an easy task either and Moses soon got exhausted dealing with everyones problems! When he was away up the mountain talking to God the israelites were partying and making a golden calf idol.

"Most Islamists are not terrorists but most terrorists are Islamists." It's kinda the same thing with Introverts and those with Social Anxiety.

@seoulsearch So were you able to come up with an excuse to get out of watching those people's kids? If so, what was the excuse? I still wonder to this day...

Hi Zero,

I guess the ironic thing about my life is that I grew up in a family of workalohics, with "idol hands being the devil's workshop."

For a long stretch of time, I was in school and working 2-3 jobs, so even when I wasn't working, I was at the library or buried under stacks of books.

And even when I "cut down" to "just" one full-time job (for a while, I also worked another job on my days off), I then filled most of the extra time with church activities. At that time, I had left school and was just working, and because I didn't have to study in all my free time, I joked with my family that it almost felt like being retired ("Seriously? All I have to do now is WORK?")

This is why I say I'm an introvert who can masquerade as an extrovert when needed, and also the reason why I never realized I was an introvert up until a few years ago. I'm finding the secondary discussions here about anxiety to be interesting, because I know I suffer from anxiety but I'm not sure to what degree it would be diagnosed. But the way I was brought up, responsibility trumped everything else, and so I learned to put the bulk of my fears aside (or hide them well.)

I finally realized I couldn't keep up the break-neck pace that the rest of my family has managed to do all their lives, so aside from work, I cut back some of my volunteer activities, which is why I always chide and fight with myself for being so "lazy" -- compared to the rest of my family members, I'm a couch potato.

People also saw me in very isolated environments and assumed that the times they saw me were the only times I ever did anything in life, lol. They didn't really have an interest in what my life was really like, so they just assumed I "wasn't doing anything else" and that I had all the free time in the world.

I wouldn't even need to come up with an excuse, I'd just have to tell them I had other obligations, even if was just trying to get some much-needed sleep between jobs or classes!

I really did wonder how that turned out. Now I know. My dad was a workaholic too. I always try to keep myself busy. So much so that I keep getting injured and re-injured by trying to do too much (my knee, my foot, my back, my shoulder), but I can't let things sit. It's been months since I've been able to walk properly and I thought I finally was healed after Christmas, but new years day I decided to organize the garage and there was this big heavy bin under a counter that I tried to move and couldn't so I pulled on it real hard and my knee started hurting again. It still bothers me today. I'm so flipping sick of it.

um. not really.

thats what you think but there are also christian terrorists too, unfortunately. Northern Ireland anyone. Salem witch trials. Crusades.

Well my introvert party is officially scheduled. Board Games at cinder's place at 2 PM Saturday. Or at least that's what I told my handful of co-workers who I think might enjoy playing board games.