Life of being an introvert
Being an introvert for the past twenty years has been troubling, particularly with the extroverted society undervaluing introversion and overlooking its potential.
Since I was young, whenever my parents brought me to a social event, I have been constantly hearing skepticism about my abnormal quietness, and my parents explaining in an apologetic tone. “She is just shy,” they said, assuredly. While the stereotypical perception of introverts based on their reluctance to get involved in socialization and their solitary nature outweighs their performances, it creates suppression of creativity, discouragement from enthusiasm, and pressure to succumb to the socially-accepted extroverted style of thinking.
Though society generally favors extroverts, counterintuitively, the reality of introversion could be largely different from the conventional public portrayal, giving introverts considerable social advantages. Firstly, while introverts prefer working alone, it does not mean that they do not have the capability of speaking up in front of a large group of people. Given the distinction between “shyness” and “quietness”, the reserved qualities of introverts only show that they are more comfortable and able to regain more energy when being solitary. If circumstances require, introverts are able to adopt extroverted tendencies in order to make their speaking powerful and persuasive. In fact, throughout history, many of the greatest public speakers including President Barack Obama were introverts. Therefore, with society depriving introverts of opportunities for speaking up and leadership, the world is wasting their talents and hindering their success.
Secondly, while introverts often hold back their thoughts until feeling reassured, it does not mean that they are being unresponsive, uninterested, or uncreative. The repeated reflection on their own thoughts demonstrates that introverts tend to place a high value on their ideas and would continuously perfect them in order to avoid future misinterpretation. Driven by the desire to gain public attention, extroverts prefer to share their thoughts immediately, which though being an effective mode of communication, may cause confusion or possible argumentation due to incomplete information or sided opinions. On the other hand, after deeply processing their thoughts being speaking up, introverts may be able to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.
