Because introverts are such a small percentage of the population, people get the impression that we’re socially inept. But we’re not, we just interact with people differently than extroverts.
at lil bro cc’s birthday party, when our house was filled with over 70 loud teenagers, i informed my mother, “mom times like these are when i really know i am an introvert.” her response? “stop putting yourself down!”
:|
You could print this (and its follow-ups, linked in the sidebar) out for your mama. My own mother found them very useful.
This makes me happy! I really don’t like it when people bombard me with shit. I’ve stopped using instant messaging services because some people have somehow mnaged to tire me out just using that! And that was when I had finally fucking stopped them from calling me up nearly all the time just because they wanted to talk to me for fun, even though I absolutely hate phonecalls and they were just bored on bus journeys or something. I tell them that I’m introverted and get tired easily but they are all “OH NO I LIKE TO MAKE MY FRIENDS FEEL WANTED BY TALKING AT THEM ALL THE TIME”. It’s just… why are you talking about yourself, when I am talking about my needs? And I don’t think that wanting to be left alone is an unreasonable demand. But some people just don’t understand. It doesn’t help that you feel really mean telling people to go away. It is completely incomprehensible to some people that I do not want to talk to them, and it doesn’t mean that I hate them for ever.
It should be easy to just leave someone alone. I guess it also requires a degree of trust and security.
I’ve always scored right on the cusp of introvert and extrovert and for most of my life I thought I was more an extrovert because when I’m with friends I’m loud and gregarious and I thought that’s exactly who an extrovert was. As a result I wore myself out, and other people wore me out too. Now I’m aware that I’m more of an introvert, I’m learning to take care of myself and to advocate for my needs. Feels good.
But yeh. Some people just don’t want to listen. I don’t answer my phone and I don’t use chat programs, and my friends generally respect that but it’s more likely my family that doesn’t. I feel like posting this to my facebook!