After talking about opposites & similarities last week, we now jump to two of society’s social types. Personally, I had never heard those expressions before, like, a year ago, and I didn’t understand them, I couldn’t tell which one I was because frankly, I get mixed up in both. Really, what does it mean? Socially, who are we? Is it even that deep? Maybe those terms aren’t all that, maybe it’s just a category people created so they could feel some sense of belonging or some explanation to why they act the way they act. Maybe we can simply never assume we are the way we are and need a box to be put in. Maybe that’s all bullshit and we are ACTUALLY either an extroverted introvert or an introverted extrovert.
Whatever it is, here’s what I found and, like always, what I think about the subject.
Which is which?
Ok just so you know, I’ve read these words so much (extrovert & introvert) they don’t even make sense in my head anymore lol.
Starting up, I think majority of the world except like, scientists & psychologists, thinks that introvert means being a shy little person that always makes themselves so small in any room and that an extrovert is the absolute life of the party who’s got so many people in their contact list. Well, it is true. For many cases, but not and I mean definitely not all of them.
An introvert is someone who fills their batteries on solo time. Being alone for them is something that gives them energy and makes them happier people. An introvert can be totally shy, but it doesn’t mean they immediately ARE. An introvert can try to make themselves little, but it doesn’t mean they WILL. It only means that their smaller circle fulfills them enough and solo time gives them time to analyze their feelings and deal with life.
An extrovert is usually someone who fills their battery by interacting socially. It doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy alone time at ALL, it only means that they don’t need it as much as an introvert. Usually people that have a career in a service field such as sellers or social workers are extrovert. I’m not saying they all are, but most of them. They probably enjoy nights out and adventures more than introverts, but it doesn’t mean it’s all they like to do. Their social battery just is bigger than an introvert because it can run on solo time but also on social time. It’s like hybrid.
HOWEVER, thing is, everybody’s different, it’s not either an extrovert or an introvert. There’s more shading to it, it’s not all black or white.
Maybe you’re a complete extrovert or a complete introvert, or maybe, you’re somewhere between the two options.
The perfect middle: Ambivert
The ambivert is a balance of the extrovert and introvert type, it’s someone who can fuel on both solo time and social time, but also is able to give either energy depending on the situation. There is so much more to being and ambivert or an extrovert or an introvert than what I described, but this is not the point here. Ambivert can think as much as an introvert yet, show social skills an extrovert would have. It’s like the half-human, half-vampire in the last movie of Twilight. Anyways, you get the point.
Extroverted introvert
I think this one is my personality.
Being an introvert that shows extroverted signs in different gatherings. The solo time is very important here and probably what fuels you most, you’re more likely to spend time on your own and preferably full your energy tank this way rather than with people. However, after spending the solo time you needed you might crave the social interactions more. In social gatherings you might be really social at first but then be drained by the end of the night, or just need the next day to be alone and take time to breath in peace. An extroverted introvert doesn’t necessarily have difficulty talking to people, some do, but a lot of them just might find themselves in conversations easily and appreciate it. Although, it doesn’t mean they’ll go out and seek a discussion, it’s not a want nor a need, it’s a ‘’ok I don’t mind’’. An extroverted introvert values their time with their small circle, but they aren’t closed to meeting new people when out in the world, they could need time to prepare mentally before going out, but they don’t necessarily hate going out. Do you get what I’m saying?
Introverted extrovert
They’re kind of like the ambivert, some kind of balance. They’re able to be socially active and present with people because of their extroverted base, yet, alone time is also something they enjoy and need sometimes. Their social battery is more likely to go down slower than the extroverted introvert, because they are versatile with the way they feel in social gatherings. What’s interesting though, is that introverted extroverts can be done with a conversation/situation and immediately feel the need to leave or go somewhere else if it doesn’t interest them anymore. It’s not a ‘’they’re social they talk to everybody and enjoy it’’ no no no. They might be more open to connections, and meeting new people, but it doesn’t mean they’ll enjoy talking to everybody. They’ll probably need their own time with their closed ones or with themselves simply.
Like I said, it’s not all black or all white.
My opinion on social types
We mistake the word introvert for shy and lonely when in reality, you can be shy and lonely whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert. I’ve seen people going out everyday/every weekend just because they couldn’t bare the thought of being alone with their thoughts or not having a social approbation, so they fill up their whole days with noise in order to not feel the sound of silence. From an exterior point of view you would think this person’s a complete extrovert. Yet they’re and Introverted extrovert who just don’t know themselves and are scared to not be approved by anybody while they’re alone. That’s what we call a work in progress, more precisely, a human.
We label everybody, everything and every quality, default a human could have in order to put them in different categories and understand who we TRULY are. Yet it may have pushed us further away from the truth. An introvert can be so shy they don’t want anybody to notice them. However, another introvert can be really happy talking to people and hanging out in social places the whole day only they would need to relax and breath in peace by themselves afterwards. An extrovert can be someone really fucking social and always out simply because they enjoy it and it fills up their battery, but an extrovert can also be someone that enjoys being with people and connecting with them yet would need time on their own to reflect back on everything that’s going on and refueling up their battery. Whatever we say we are, we’re all different and it doesn’t matter whether we’re an extroverted introvert or an introverted extrovert, or an ambivert, we are who we know we are. It may change, it’ll most likely grow, but it’ll always be bottom heart who we decided we were, when we got to know the real us.
Even if there are different shades of introversion and extroversion, after reading today’s post, in which category do you think you are? Extroverted introvert or Introverted extrovert?
Mwah.
