The Power of Introverts

I'm an introvert. I can admit this with no guilt or shame - I am who I am. I much prefer to spend time alone ( in my room or a library ) with books, the internet, music, and just my own company. Cats welcome, but humans usually not.

In today's society and throughout most of the world, being extroverted is prized as the more superior or desirable trait to have. Introverts like myself are seen as weird, social outcasts, loners, or at worst - problems to be fixed. Most of the self-help books you pick up today promote socializing and group work and being outgoing, something that often times doesn't work for those of us who prefer to curl up with a good book rather than go out for drinks on a Wednesday night.

But there's nothing wrong with being introverted. Not at all.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suppose that most of us dark little cookies fall closer to the introvert side of the spectrum. I'm going to assume that most of us prefer to spend time with our close friends or family, doing our own thing. Maybe you're into reading, maybe it's music, or maybe it's heading out into the unknown with just your camera.

But in all that time alone you're allowing your mind to expand and grow, to become more as a person, an intellectual even. Possibly why those in the Goth community are considered higher up on the "smarts" scale. Some pretty innovative ideas and solutions have come from more introverted minds. Some of the greatest literature in the last century came from introverts. Most of our technology was born from the minds of introverts. There's power there in solitude.

So the next time someone tells you to get out more, to talk to people more, or be more outgoing, just keep in mind that YOU might be the next great inventor and YOUR mind might change the world.

Now, I'm gonna get back to my textbook on American dialects. Laterz!