I'll stay in tonight

About three years ago I was in a library and I came across this book.

This is a book about introverts and how we live in an extroverted world and the people who don't shout out tend to be left behind because maybe they can't put across their views and opinions as well as someone who is a bit more extroverted and "out there."

It was a very interesting book and it opened my eyes to why I am like am. For example one of the stories that the author, Susan Cain told was about an introvert giving a speech or a presentation. I've always thought of myself as being a competent public speaker and unlike most people it doesn't freak me out and I have had the experience of speaking to over 1000 people in both English and Japanese and it turned out to be fine. In fact, that interesting part was, I was more nervous after the speech than before. Strange, eh? The reason I found out from this book was that, because I was so far out of my comfort zone in front of all of these people, I felt so drained of energy at the end of it that I had to run away and be by myself for a few moments. This in a nutshell is the difference between an introvert and an extrovert.

An introvert gets energy from being either alone in solitude or with one or two other people while an extrovert has to be surrounded by a lot of people, being the centre of attention, partying the night away, charming the people around her or him.

This book really showed me the differences and why people are why they are like that. Even my friend and I had a eureka moment where we both understood why he would want to go out on the town, where I was rather reluctant, shall we say.

It is really interesting once you realise who and what you are as you can stop playing a character you may have been playing up until now just to fit in with the people around you. You can reject that invitation for the fifth party in five days because you may want some time alone to relax and think in solitude. Also it helps you interact with people around you as you know why they do what they do.

I suggest having a read of the above book, whether you are extroverted or introverted. You may learn a thing or two about yourself. I know I did.