Redefining the boundaries

A few months ago, I suppose you could say I found out why I'm always the 'weird' one of the class. There's no-on else like me in my form. Why? I'm an introvert - on quite an extreme scale to be perfectly honest - and introverts only make up about a quarter of all people. People stereotype introverts like me; they say a lot of myths that aren't actually true.

Introverts like myself are the odd ones out because we don't like to be lemmings and always follow the crowd. We like to be different. We normally are because of our brains being more sensitive to dopamine then extroverts (or extraverts if you prefer that spelling). Sometimes though, our individuality is misunderstood and suddenly, we're the weird ones.

Another misconception is that we hate talking when that's not true. So long as we have something to talk about, we're away. Introverts also need people they're comfortable with to talk freely to. If we've got something worth talking about and someone worth talking to - we're happy.

Our quietness is also misunderstood. While not all introverts are shy, some of us are and this adds to the difficulty we have with talking to people. We'd rather be secure about ourselves and we find it better for us to have some downtime and just think or read.

This comes down to the dopamine again. If we're too exposed to a social event, we get tired and need to be alone to recharge; but it takes longer for introverts to recharge but is often plagued but insomnia or the likes. Insomnia is a real pain sometimes but I can still get what I set out to do done. The insomnia doesn't always help with people's judgement however. We can stay up until midnight working and wake early to continue the work, much to the bemusement of our peers.

The definition of an introvert needs to be told more clearly and people need to accept us into society. Parents - and I know mine do - always say that we need to get out more; get our head out the clouds and interact. Forcing an introvert to act extroverted is not ideal as this could lead to problems. We like careful planning and sudden interaction could throw us off.

In reality, introverts are the minority but a majority of great people, Albert Einstein included, were introverted. We cannot be forced into anything. Adam Young of Owl City posted a blog post that really helped me understand more about how introverts like myself work. Kudos to him.