Shownotes Transcript
What isit like to be an introvert?)
Marcus Geduld)
Early on in my relationship with my extroverted wife, we went toa party together, and, at some point, I asked, "Would it be okay if weleft in an hour?"She said, "Sure."Then I got involved in a poker game and she could see I was having a blast.But, in the middle of the game, at exactly an hour from when I'd mentionedleaving, I said, "Okay, I'm ready to go." She was flabbergasted. "But you're having fun!" she said. "I cansee you're having fun!""Yes, I am, but I still want to go."What she didn't understand is that socializing feels, for me, like a fun butstrenuous physical activity. If someone says, "I need to stop dancingnow," it doesn't necessarily mean he was having a bad time. He may just betired.It's like I have a battery inside me that allows me to function socially for acertain length of time. When it's drained, my social skills vanish, whetherI've been having a good time or not. And I feel a tremendous need to be bymyself and recharge. This past winter, we were snowed into our apartment for nearly two weeks, andby the end of it, we were stir crazy. We needed to be around other people. I needed itas much as my wife did.But, once we'd hung out with some friends, my social needs were met way beforehers were. I stayed out until midnight or so, just to make her happy, but I gotantsy to go home at around nine, and by 10:30, I was in agony. Still, from about 5pm until 8:30, we were both having fun.