Tuesday, December 4, 2012

I Am Slightly Obessed with Introversion Right Now

Okay, because my brain is obsessed with the introvert thing, and because I am currently waiting (somewhat impatiently) for Ace to drive here from NW Arkansas for us to start the whole moving our stuff around and getting me settled in with my dad for roughly the next month, I am going to talk about how cool my parents actually were when raising me. It's one of the few things I can say that was absolutely positive about my mom. Relish that, because I do.

My parents did not actually push me to be more outgoing (other than to push past that crippling shyness thing). They let me stay home and play with Barbies or read or play with Legos or whatever other thing I was interested in doing. I'm sure there was probably some part of them wondering if I should have more friends, but they let me be me.

I was never asked to be something besides myself when it came to daily interaction with the world. I was left to be my introverted self. And that was great. There was no one trying to get me to change. No one trying to tell me that my personal preference to be at home most of the time was wrong or unusual or not healthy. I was allowed to be myself and flourish in my own unique style.

I'd like to think it's because my parents are a bit more introverted. My mom seems to be. My dad seems more like an ambivert (in the middle between introverted and extroverted). It seems to have helped them be accepting of my own personal desire to have lots of time alone.

Oddly, time with Ace has never felt draining. Which is great, because I like spending time with him. This is actually great for both of us, as we are both introverts and both feel the same about our time together not being draining. Which will be really nice on a truck, as we won't really be able to get away from each other.

So, yeah. Nicely, I have not had some of the problems that other introverts have. Because my parents didn't try to force change on me. And for that, I am truly grateful. It's nice to be able to say something positive about my mom.

2 comments:

NGS said...

My husband is a total introvert. Apparently, when he was a little kid, he used to go hide under his bed and play with his toys when the extended family came to visit for holidays. Stories about his under the bed antics are legendary.

I am an introvert, too, but clearly not to the same level. And at no time have I ever considered under the bed as an appropriate hiding place.

But it really surprised me when one of his cousins said "it's so good to see Dr. BB with an extrovert like you." I almost fell over laughing. The Myers-Brigg would NEVER put me in the extrovert category.

I guess it just goes to show you how weird it is when you put some people in comparison to others.

MA Smith said...

Of the two of us, Ace is the more extroverted. But we are both complete introverts. It works well for us.

I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself in case any kids we have are extroverts. Because won't that be fun? (No, not it won't. At least not for me.)