As a fellow introvert, there are many things I don’t understand about you extroverts. So consider this an open letter to all of you, because these are just a few of the things that I don’t understand about extroverts.
Their boundless amounts of energy.
Extroverts are famous for going from one hangout to the next, for days upon end. They just don’t seem to ever get tired! Introverts get tired 15 minutes into the first party and want to leave pretty soon after that unless they’re thoroughly enjoying themselves and the company around them. Do you guys just have some never ending battery inside yourselves and that’s the secret to how you live endlessly and keep up with others so effortlessly? Because if so, please share this secret battery with us, Lord knows we need it.
Conversation. How???
Extroverts have the ability to talk endlessly about anything while most introverts struggle to come up with just one thing to keep the conversation flowing. Even close friends, especially two who are introverts, sit in silence for most of the time. Now mind you that kind of silence can be comforting, but we’re talking about the awkward, ‘hey, I don’t really know you so I don’t really know what to talk about silence.’ It usually is the kind that occurs when a friend has left you to converse with one of their friends. Ahh holy awkwardness. Now, put an extrovert in the situation and you’ve got an a-okay situation, with lots of small talk and even a bit of a friendship forming between the two people. Do you have a reserve of prompts in your head for these kind of things or?? Are you guys just really good at this whole ‘talking’ thing? Because I have no clue how all of that works.
We love hanging out with ourselves and just reading books all day. Yet they don’t see it as enjoyable AT ALL.
Now on this one I can confidently say you guys are MISSING OUT because getting lost in a good book for hours upon hours is one of my favorite things to do. How do you guys get bored? You can talk to the characters! Sure they may not be real people, but they’re there for your pleasure and enjoyment. They’re there for you to get attached to and learn about. Extroverts, reading a book may be hard to you, but to us introverts it’s about as easy as breathing. Please try to understand when all I want to do is sit around and read or contemplate the themes of the newest book I purchased. It’s not as weird as you might think it is.
They deal with change so well.
And I’m terrified of it. While you guys are just along for the ride, excited to see where the road takes you, I’m in the back contemplating just about everything that could go wrong in this brand new situation I’ve been put in. Its unsettling to say the least. How are you okay with this? How is your brain not sending off millions of alarms saying, ‘BAD IDEA!’ over and over again. Beats me, honestly. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.
Now, while there may be many things I don’t understand about extroverts and even more things they don’t understand about me, an introvert, I know I wouldn’t be able to live without them. Who would force me to have constant social interaction daily so that I kept my friends? Who would invite me to parties I never knew I’d have fun at? I would be a majorly different person without my extrovert friends, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all of them.
