Reformed hermit?

[serene]

I am still an introvert. I think it's in my makeup somehow to be recharged by quiet time alone. However, I think that over the last year or two I've been getting better at finding some energy in social contact.

Last night, I hauled my butt out of the house and went to the Atheist Coalition meeting. If I hadn't talked someotherguy into showing up, I might have talked myself out of it.

The film they showed was *awful*. I managed to sit through most of it, but then I just cracked, and dragged someotherguy outside for a few minutes before the group was kicked out of the room.

Anyway, I had a point. Oh, yeah. My point was that I got home feeling energized, if tired, rather than wrung out. Now granted, there wasn't a ton of socializing involved, but it was a new social situation and I didn't feel completely exhausted. I think that's promising. And I felt the same way after the Bay Area trip earlier this month, but I chalked that up to Noo Luv(tm).

Am I just at the limit of how much solitude I can take, maybe? Am I stimulated by the abovementioned Noo Luv(tm) to want people around more? Am I just tired of spending all my free time around the house? (The answers to these and other questions on the next episode of "Soap".)

Comments

[bandhiaduit.livejournal.com]

Several years ago I participated in a Myers-Briggs personality assessment when I was involved with one of many re-engineering groups on campus. One of my personality traits was Introvert. The rest of the team scoffed in disbelief, but what the "administrator" of the test explained was that being an Introvert didn't mean I was a hermit, it meant that until I became comfortable in my surroundings, in my group, I would observe and process internally, re-energize from within, until my trust level was up high enough to let the social Jules out.

Perhaps it's like that for you?

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

For me it's similar to that, but different in some key ways, I think. I have always known that my introversion isn't directly connected to my hermitage -- introversion means, to me, that being around people *takes* energy, while being by myself *gives me* energy. My hermitage is often more about being in a lazy/inertia space and not feeling up to facing social situations when I know they will take more energy. Also, no matter how comfortable I am around people, I'm fairly social (I'm not shy at all, and I think I relate fairly well to people, whether they're known or strangers, though there is some awkwardness at first), and no matter how long I've known people, it still takes me energy to interact with them.

[bandhiaduit.livejournal.com]

You are describing me ever so accurately! I'm frequently praised for my "people skills" and sometimes I feel like I relate better to strangers than my own family (of course, there's no emotional investment so it's EASY!)

and I totally grok what you mean about energy! I have had some of the most epiphanic (is that a word?) moments on the occasions I go to a movie alone. (I'm almost embarrassed to say that for a while PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED was one such movie! I still think it's remarkable, but not Life Changing!)


SEEBLING!

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

:-) I'm happy to seeble with you any time. :-)