Has introversion become an excuse?

A common dinner table anecdote Tim likes to bring up to humiliate me is 'That one time at the swimming pool in England.' What happened was that we had to ask the pool guard for some help (I can't remember if our locker was stuck or if we needed directions but we needed some help) and I was too shy to ask him (perhaps the request had something to do with where the bathrooms were) and so I made Tim ask on my behalf. And he has never let it go and I am quite sure he'll repeat that story on my wedding day.

I was a shy child: I stuck to Emily and Christy in church, Bramina and Isabelle in school, and my books in all other life scenarios. I knew I was an introvert. I became bolder in secondary school and junior college, to the point that a few people in ACJC thought I was an extrovert. But my personality profile remained heavily skewed toward introversion based on the Myers Briggs test.

Introverts tend to direct their energy inward, being self-aware, thoughtful, private, meticulous and prone to introspection. This is not to say that they are unable to socialise - they can be gregarious and sociable around those they know, and even those they do not, although the difference between their interaction and that of extroverts is that it expends rather than gleans energy.

Recently, introversion has been a buzz word online, with plenty of articles like 'Awkward moments every introvert understands' and 'Problems only introverts will understand'. Whilst understanding the tendencies and quirks of introverts is a healthy thing, introversion, rather than being one of many personality traits relating to the attitudes with which people direct their energy, is increasingly used as an excuse.

'Introversion' suddenly sounds like a diagnosis of a syndrome or complex or disease that separates us from extroverts. So often I have caught myself silently backing out of interaction with others or speaking up in groups because I feel uncomfortable with it and feel that my introversion excuses my silence. New youths at church go un-talked to, flawed ideas go uncorrected, and I don't see it as my duty to address them because my introversion is something I can't control - it is part of my personality, and, like blindness, is something I cannot overcome. Let the extroverts do it. This is what they are good at, this is what they are meant to do. People probably wouldn't want to talk to me anyway since my introversion makes me so awkward in social situations.

What. Rubbish.

Introversion is not like blindness. It is more like having a blindfold. It keeps you in the comforting fold of darkness and self-thought, but when the light beckons, what one really needs to do is tear off this blindfold and embrace the light.

Certainly introversion makes it more difficult for me to step out of my comfort zone to approach others, or to air my views in public. But what introverts often overlook is the fact that it is hard for extroverts too. Going up to a stranger, introducing yourself, excavating parts of yourself for their scrutiny is always hard. To different people the difficulty falls at different degrees, but having something more difficult should never be a reason to give up on it (look at math and me).

Furthermore, every person is capable of defining themselves and their choices. We live in such a vast world that is is sheer hubris to think that they world will meld itself to our jagged edges and strange shapes. I signed up as an OGL in ACJC despite feeling really un-confident in my ability to integrate a group of vastly different and unique J1 kids into school. It was tough putting myself out there every day, but it showed me that I could definitely do it if I tried.We have to embrace our world, lean in and join into it's dance. To refuse to do so would be to relinquish so many opportunities.

I know I'm an introvert, but that shouldn't stop me. And if you are, it shouldn't stop you to. Go out, make friends, spend time with them (I know sometimes I feel like making excuses for social events to have some 'me-time' with a book, but when I think of how much joy it would bring my friends to spend time with them, and actually how much joy it would bring me to see them too, I fold the page corner and take the 191), contribute to discourse, CHANGE THE WORLD.