No more excuses!

Ever since I was a child I have been told that I am too quiet.  My mother said I needed to get over my shyness.  I was too brainy and did not join in with other children.  She tried to help me overcome my quietness by dropping me off at several week-long camps, or taking dance lessons or pushing me into the spotlight with music lessons.  I know she meant well but I continued to be quiet and "too brainy" by her description.

As I became an adult and continued my journey through education and psychology I later realized that what she called shyness was really introversion.  What she called shyness was really my need to draw my energy from quiet activities, reading, needlework, gardening and walking my dogs.  I am really not that terribly shy, I am just not a person who needs to be in the spotlight all the time.  I find my self a good second in command, the person behind the person.  I also can take the lead, I do it several times a week when I am teaching college classes. 

There is now a movement, started by author Susan Cain, for those of us who are introverts.  After completing her book "Quiet" and making the promotional rounds about her research and writing Susan Cain started the "Quiet Revolution" where she talks about all things that make those of us who are introverts the way we are.  In spite of our need for quiet pursuits we make good leaders (we are better listeners) and we don't shy away from making decisions, we just put a little more thought into them than someone who is more impulsive. 

Susan Cain's talk, The Power of Introverts, on Ted.com (http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts) is one of the most watched videos on that web site.  I often show it in the psychology classes I teach when we are covering the topic of personality.  Invariably I will get an email from a student after that talk thanking me for helping them to not feel like such a freak in this world filled with extroverts and those who draw their energy from crowds. 

I am coming to realize that those of us who are introverts really enjoy finding someone with similar traits to ours because other like-minded and quiet-seeking introverts are not trying to suck all the oxygen from a room with their expansive personalities. 

So no more excuses.  I am the person I am, quiet and all.  I am no longer going to feel like I have to explain or pretend to be someone I am not just to fit in.  If the extroverts don't like it they can just keep talking to each other.