I think about this a lot since I tend to believe that American culture tends to favor extroversion, and I also believe that a big reason I was laid off is because I was an introvert in an office full of extroverts.

I came across this article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/print/46944 that summed things up quite well for me.

As a lot of you can probably tell, I am highly introverted. I often find being around people to be exhausting unless I'm very comfortable around them, and sometimes even then. I'm not horribly shy, but I do tend to be very quiet. I absolutely love hanging out by myself and am thankful for this fact. This lends itself well to being a writer since I'm comfortable sitting alone and falling back into my own mind to reason out a character or to advance a plot.

All my life I've hung out one on one or in small groups, typically always having a few close friends. Hanging out with people from the boards is really the first time in my life I've every regularly hung out with a group of people (which explains my occasional awkwardness). I never partied in college, and going to dances in high school was pretty much the most uncomfortable atmosphere for me. Living at home in the basement and being unemployed, there are some days I interact only with the cats which suits me just fine. I typically write 10-12 hours a day around whatever distractions the internet provides and I haven't taken a day off from writing or editing since we took my sister to college in August.

The article says that the country is split pretty evenly between introverts and extroverts, but I have a feeling that since this is a message board, we might see a bit more towards the introvert side. I'm curious.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I'm mostly introverted, I'd LIKE to be more extroverted, but something about me just doesn't let me tackle it completely.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

There was a time in my early twenties where I was the life of the party and always seemed to be invited to everything. I remember loving it but as I got a bit older, the random stranger type party got old and I found myself feeling like I had to fake my smiles and conversational interest. My experience has been that at parties and what not people tend to be very shallow, surfacy and boring. Not to say they aren't interesting in their private lives but shit, all I heard were people who liked crap beer, crap tv, crap food, no hobbies, and hadn't read a book since highschool. Now at age 31 I am disslocated from my friends and family in NY and don't have a single close friend here in Colorado. I make my appearances at gallery events and play league discgolf on Sundays but i tend to stay in by myself or with the family. I avoid office dinners and parties with my wife's coworkers and just find it impossible to find friends who have more than just one thing in common with me. Oh well. I do miss having a group of buds though to go camping with or to hit up brewers fests.

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I'm a pretty even blend of both I'd say. I like both sides equally. They each have value.

Also, the woman in the bubble is very attractive.

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Wheelhouse

i can be both. around wimmins, i tend to be quiet and shy. around my friends, i tend to seek out things that can get us almost arrested/dangerous/awesome.

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I used to be incredibly introverted but then something broke and now I'm retardedly personable

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mechaphil

Introversion/extroversion is actually the most hardwired aspect of personality (which is saying a lot because personality is pretty much all nature) and the earliest to detect in infants, so it's interesting to see how behavior changes over a lifetime to fit that natural inclination. The societal definition of introvert/extrovert is dependent on how a person behaves, but it's actually based on where a person gets energy, whether in solitude or with others. Someone who is loud and pretty gregarious may actually be an introvert, while there are plenty of shy extroverts to go around. Behavior changes based on learned social skills, life circumstances (typically under stress people act the opposite of how they really are), and surroundings. It's not really that indicative of anything.

As a kid, I was really shy with new people but pretty assertive and playful with the neighbor kids, cousins, and brothers that I had always known. Still I didn't mind playing by myself and actually preferred exploring the area around where I lived alone, without the usual pack. That continued through high school. The first day I attended school I actually tried sitting by myself in the cafeteria because I was too afraid to approach one of the tables with my class at it, but they didn't let me sit alone and included me right away. If left alone at a party today with nobody I know at all, I would still stand around in a corner and just watch people. With people I know, I am completely fine and act like myself, but otherwise I'm a wallflower. Pretty much everyone's first impression of me is only that I am quiet.

However, I can and often do spend hours a day hanging out with friends, oftentimes well into the night, and I never get tired. On a trip to St. Louis that occurred recently there was a marked difference between me and the extroverts on the trip and the introverts, who all needed to spend the second half of an evening back at the hotel while the other half of us split off and went out downtown. I can spend several days with people before feeling the need to get away but only about a day or two alone before wanting to hang out, and I have no desire to ever live alone. I think, going by the actual definition of introversion/extroverted, I'm extroverted, though my behavior does not imply that... I also don't fit the extrovert profile of my personality on the MBTI but do fit the introverted one very well. So, um. Yeah.

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Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

This is me.

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Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?

ATTENTION SABRES: who are you people??!?



http://sabresbecause.tumblr.com

I remember taking one of those personality quizzes in my psychology class in high school, and I tied between being introverted or extroverted. Which isn't surprising to me. . I feel like I'm a little bit more introverted though. I love being social and meeting new people and making new friends, but I'm never going to be the center of attention at a party or anything like that.

I think I ended up being an INFP, which was a pretty accurate description of my personality.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

I'm kind of introverted. If I've talked to someone a few times, I would be extroverted towards them. But I don't like to come off as arrogant, ignorant, or a big douche, so I just kind of stay inside. I guess I like people to think good about me.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

I think a blend of both, depending on the mood of myself I can be the life of something or mind my own.

Like Mike said, around wimmins I'm quiet and shy but around a group of friends I'm not close to that.

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