Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hug An Extrovert aka A Case of Blogger's Remorse

This is going to be a quickie, drive-by posting since I'm stuck smack in the middle of Deadline Hell and Mary is presently riding a west bound hurricane and praying it will drop her off in Texas.

Energy Sucking Aliens.
Oops! Did I say that out loud?
Sorry about that.

The thing is, some of my very best friends are extroverts. Honest!

In fact, one of my sons is an extrovert and--here's a twist--was born into a family of introverts. Poor guy. He's all about getting energy from connecting with people and feeling revitalized that way and the rest of us are all about trying to eke out as much private space as possible. Someone was playing a mean karmic joke on that boy.

But our point here at SVP is not to demonize extroverts, but to try and help articulate what it feels like to live in a world where the prevailing social preferences aren't necessarily one's own. And obviously we'll be focusing on the introvert's perspective in that regard.

So it's not that we think extroverts are Energy Sucking Aliens, it's just that they feel that way sometimes. But really, we love us our extroverts!

3 comments:

Jennifer R. Hubbard said...

Yes, the problem is not that we should all be introverts or we should all be exroverts. The problem is not that one type is better than the other. The problem is when the types don't make allowances for one another. I do think this world is tipped in favor of extroverts, and it's a little harder for introverts to navigate. So of course this blog is about how to manage as an I in an E world--not how to live without the E's! We need both I's and E's.
I'll sign off now before I invite us all to join hands and sing ;-)

Mary Hershey said...

LOL, liquidambar! Gee, we'll have to come up with a special song for ourselves. Uh-oh, I feel a contest coming on!

Robin, thinking of you today pressed tight against your deadline. Hope it is going smashingly well!

Said hurricane did nicely drop me off into southeast Texas, where life is nice 'n steamy and I could probably grow African violets from my sports bra.

:-)Hugs,
Mary

Kris Bordessa said...

I, too, have a single extrovert in my immediate family. My poor son. But there are times when we can actually feel the vacuum cleaner like suction of energy that happens when he's around. ;-) I like to think that he's learning how to deal with an introvert's need for occasional time alone, so that someday he'll be an extrovert who can understand that it's not personal when introverts slink away from his vibrant self.