blargh

[wavyarms]

So, when I met up with heatmhub in Boston last week, one of the topics of conversation was introvert vs. extrovert. I've always considered myself a strong introvert, and said so. heatmhub was surprised, and pointed to my social calendar while I was in Boston as an example of extroversion. And it's also true that I practice much better with other people, and get more work done when other people are involved than when I'm supposed to work alone. I began to think that maybe I'm not as introverted as I thought.

Well, chalk up the past few days as another piece of evidence that I may have been wrong. I've been dog-sitting for a professor, and basically living in the next town over with no human interaction at all...and it's getting me down! I thought I'd enjoy a little hermit-time, but not so much.

I think maybe I assumed I was an introvert b/c of my geek tendencies. In high school, I assumed that all geeks were introverts, and never really re-examined that assumption as regards myself, though of course I now know tons of geekish extroverts. Maybe I'm more balanced than I thought.

Anyways, people should, like, update and stuff. Because LJ is the only people-interaction I'm likely to have today.

Comments

[wavyarms.livejournal.com]

True! And the discussion arose b/c she had to take the Myers-Briggs for work. I did too, several years ago, but of course I completely forget my score.

[thomascantor.livejournal.com]

Everyone in my family took the Myers-Briggs test at some point - probably when my dad was using it in his work as a cleric. I definitely scored high as an introvert at one point, and I also need to recharge after time spent with large groups of people. Another time that I took it I only scored high on intuiting over sensing. I heard from one of my sisters that it is common for people to score differently in different settings - work, home, social events, etc. etc.

It seems to me that what we mean by introvert or extrovert can be a little unclear. Nobody likes to think of themselves as, say, a total brainiac who has no friends, but then the idea of being an incredibly insensitive yet outgoing socialite may seem a worse model to some, and most people do their best not to fit into such an obvious stereotype anyway. Sometimes introverts can put on the most flamboyant style, even when meeting total strangers, but remain introverts other times.