AS I LIKE IT

  8 out of 10 times people start a conversation with me with a casual "Are you always so quiet?". It's the first time they are asking that question, but I have become a seasoned responder to it.

Albeit, I do admit to googling the correct response to it after I was asked the first 20 times.

It provided me with a few good ideas over time,the most amusing one being -"Are you always so talkative?", I never did use that one though for the sake of it sounding a bit rude to the other person.

Which makes me raise the question that why is the former question not considered rude.Color me curious.

It is a known fact that man is a social being and so automatically our society is structured as more rewarding and applauding for sociable people.

A decade ago when personality and mental health issues were not much on the frontiers as they are today, I was always the child whom the teachers put in the shy and quiet category.It was later when I chose to study psychology that I was able to understand and characterize the difference between shyness and Introvert-ism.

"AN INTROVERT IS SIMPLY A PERSON WHO IS PREDOMINANTLY CONCERNED AND HAPPY BEING BY THEMSELVES AND THEIR MINDS."

    In a world that just can't seem to stop talking,when someone's seen sitting alone enjoying the solace of their own company, it is assumed that they must be lonely -when it couldn't be further from the truth.

Extroverts thrive on attention.

Whereas Introverts need time alone to get recharged. Growing older is morphing me into that person everyday.The more time I spend surrounded by people,the more time I have to spend with myself to function again.

It is not a made up thing but a palpable mental and physical exhaustion, that makes even standing up difficult.

And that is just the thing people need to understand about Introverts,that we would voluntarily like to read the mythologies of the Witches of Salem or do gardening in companionable silence or go for movies alone because that's what makes us happy,and isn't that the dream?
-Simran Kaur