Steps To Understanding The World Of Introversion

Hello, my lovely blog readers, I'm so excited to be back. So sorry for the long break. Hope you've all been faring well. Here's another interesting piece from me. I hope you'll enjoy and learn from it.

Intro 

Temi is a well brought up young lady from a family of five. She has two younger siblings. She is somewhat an introvert but she does not know it. She prides herself as being social and is unaware that people think negatively of her because they misunderstand her every action.

Scenario 

Temi, after series of lectures, desires to be left alone so that she can find some peace and quiet to think. She finally gets the space she so desired and uses the opportunity to reflect on her day, on how productive her day had been and her plans for the remaining of the day. She is deep in thought when one of her course mates passes by. On seeing her, he waves, calls her name and says "Hello!" but, because Temi is deep in thought, she does not hear him and so she does not reply. This course mate, Femi by name, misunderstands and concludes that she is being snobbish. He goes on to tell his friends about the incident and that he thinks Temi is a snob. Meanwhile, Temi had no idea of what was going on because of that simple event, she was unaware of what people were beginning to think of her – a snob.

This is just one out of many such scenarios. Now, you might think that this personality of Temi’s, that people misunderstand, affects her only at school but in actual fact, it follows her virtually everywhere she goes. People tend to misunderstand her every action, most times. This applies not only to Temi, but also to many introverts like her. 

This article is to help us understand people like Temi better and to know how to interact with them.

What is introversion? Who is an introvert? And how does one interact with introverts? These are questions that will be sufficiently answered in this article.

My Story 

Not too long ago, I did not understand the concept ‘introversion’ or what being an introvert entailed. In fact, I thought it was some sort of insult to be called an Introvert. 

I had an experience once with one of my roommates, back then in my freshman year at the University of Ibadan. My roommates had all gone out, it being a Saturday- the universal day for outings. Everyone went out, except me of course. I was tucked in my bed with my laptop, watching a movie series that I was so engrossed in and was determined to finish. I was so carried away with the movie that I lost track of time. Soon, one of my roomies (let's call her Daisy) returned and on seeing me engrossed with the laptop, she was astonished and exclaimed "Blessing, you are really an Introvert!" Ignorant me vehemently replied 'Please, I am not an Introvert!' "What are you then?" She asked and I notoriously replied "I am Divergent!" Too much movies, right? 

Understanding Introversion
My view on Introversion changed recently when I watched a TED talk by Susan Cain, a writer amongst other things, titled: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS. This video really broadened my knowledge on introversion and changed my whole view on the concept. Most of what I’ll be discussing are things I learnt from that video.

So, who exactly is an introvert? People have an erroneous belief that an introvert is a shy person, who prefers to keep to themselves for fear of social judgment but that is very incorrect. Introversion and shyness are two different things. A shy person can as well be an introvert but not all introverts are shy. Introvert comes from Latin words intro, "inward" and vertere, "turning". It describes a person who tends to turn inward mentally. Introverts sometimes avoid large groups of people, feeling more energized by time alone. The opposite of an introvert is an extrovert, who finds energy in interactions with others. Introversion can be defined as the process of staying away from large group of people so as to turn inwards mentally.

Most introverts, including Susan Cain, because of the social stigma placed on being an introvert, leave their comfort zone of introversion to try to fit into the world of extroverts. In the video, Susan Cain gave instances of leaving her comfort zone, while growing up so as to feel accepted by society. Did you know that most of the people celebrated today religiously, like Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha had a huge streak of introversion in them? There were records of them going off by themselves for inspiration. Even early Scientists had a high percentage of introverts amongst them, people like Charles Darwin, who liked solitude and used the time to work out difficult situations or ideas.

The era of extroversion is a more recent development. Little wonder, we continue to refer to past ideas with little or no new innovations coming up because the thinkers (which are introverts mostly) are not allowed to do what they do best, which is to think and come up with new solutions, because of how they are treated. At this point, it should be noted that there is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert; such a person will be in a lunatic asylum if he/she existed at all. People are grouped according to the dominant trait in the introvert-extrovert spectrum. People who fall right in the middle of the spectrum are termed ambiverts and they are thought to have the best of our world. Although, they are quite rare.

As much as extroversion helps us to socialize and share love and ideas amongst ourselves, introverts should also be allowed to stay in their comfort zone to do what they do best, that is, thinking and finding solutions to problems. They shouldn’t be stigmatized because they prefer to be secluded (so as to reflect and draw energy from their thinking or imaginations.) That way, we would find more solutions to the problems facing us today.

Fact: Statistics show that one third of the world population are introverts that is, one out of every three people you meet are introverts! Wow! Just imagine how much better our world would be if these people are free from victimisation and social stigmatization.

What To Do 

If you meet an introvert, don’t victimize them or make them feel abnormal (truth is they are very normal). Instead, welcome them with open arms as you would every other extrovert and allow them to express themselves in their best capacity. Encourage anyone that has a streak of introversion in them to utilize it. Also, we should take time to understand people first (like in Temi’s case) before making judgments.

If you are an Introvert or notice that you have streaks of Introversion, embrace it and use it to the fullest potential. Take out time to think, write, listen to inspiring songs and messages. Anything that brings out your innate creativity and innovation. Spend more time in getting to know yourself better than in trying to be more extroverted. That way you will be able to recognise and utilise your strengths until they overshadow your weaknesses. 

I hope you enjoyed this piece and that you gained a lot from it.

Thank you for reading. 

References   

• Power of introverts by Susan Cain

• Luvlybee's Blog

• Definitions from Google

Please click the follow button for more interesting articles from me and share the link with your friends, thank you.

ONE LOVE!❤️