Imagine, you were living a world where some people couldn't function unless they held someone else's hand. It's not like they couldn't do anything without holding hands. It's just that if they went for more than 20 minutes without holding hands, they feel very uncomfortable. Now, imagine being a world where most people were hand-holders, and you weren't.
The whole world would be designed for people walking holding hands. Whenever you went to a meeting, you would be expected to half hands with the person next to you. You don't want to. But you do, just to make he other person comfortable. You go back to your cubicle, but wait, you don't sit in your cubicle yourself. You share your cubicle with a person with who. You hold hands with. So, you hold his hand, and you go about your work. Then you leave work, catch the train, sit on a seat. The person next to you gives you her hand. Fine! You'll hold her hand. You reach home. You greet your wife. She wants to hold your hand too. You tell her "honey, I just came back from work. I've been holding hands all day. Can I hold a cup of coffee for 20 minutes before I hold your hand?" She loves you, and know what you are. An intro-holder. She accepts you for who you are, but wonders if things would have been different had she married an extra-holder. Later on the weekend, she says "my friend has invited us to a hand holding party at 1:30" "do I have to go? Why can't you go alone" "no it will be awkward. I will be the 3rd wheel" so you go with her because you care about her, and after she puts up with your intro-holdiness the least you could do is go to a party once in a while. At the party, you hold other people's hand and you notice another person who looks uncomfortable holding hands. You nod at him, thinking "I know how it feels" and hoping that you could project your thoughts into him. He nods back, and you think you did.
One day you might get a new cubicle partner, and you hold his hand, and you notice he isn't into it like other people. You leave his hand. He doesn't try to hold it back. And you just leave it at that. You go about doing your work, and both of you don't let anyone outside your cubicle know that you don't hold hands. Eventually, you do good at work, and you realize that you not holding people's hands is holding you back at work. You read books on how to be a better hand holder, and you try and you get good at holding hands. Your coworkers can't believe that you are an intro-holder. After all, you have nothing against holding hands. You just don't want to do it all day!
That's what introversion feels like. Introverts are basically people who can go about their day without having the need to talk to someone every 20 minutes or so. It's not like we hate talking to people. We just don't want to do it all day!
The whole world would be designed for people walking holding hands. Whenever you went to a meeting, you would be expected to half hands with the person next to you. You don't want to. But you do, just to make he other person comfortable. You go back to your cubicle, but wait, you don't sit in your cubicle yourself. You share your cubicle with a person with who. You hold hands with. So, you hold his hand, and you go about your work. Then you leave work, catch the train, sit on a seat. The person next to you gives you her hand. Fine! You'll hold her hand. You reach home. You greet your wife. She wants to hold your hand too. You tell her "honey, I just came back from work. I've been holding hands all day. Can I hold a cup of coffee for 20 minutes before I hold your hand?" She loves you, and know what you are. An intro-holder. She accepts you for who you are, but wonders if things would have been different had she married an extra-holder. Later on the weekend, she says "my friend has invited us to a hand holding party at 1:30" "do I have to go? Why can't you go alone" "no it will be awkward. I will be the 3rd wheel" so you go with her because you care about her, and after she puts up with your intro-holdiness the least you could do is go to a party once in a while. At the party, you hold other people's hand and you notice another person who looks uncomfortable holding hands. You nod at him, thinking "I know how it feels" and hoping that you could project your thoughts into him. He nods back, and you think you did.
One day you might get a new cubicle partner, and you hold his hand, and you notice he isn't into it like other people. You leave his hand. He doesn't try to hold it back. And you just leave it at that. You go about doing your work, and both of you don't let anyone outside your cubicle know that you don't hold hands. Eventually, you do good at work, and you realize that you not holding people's hands is holding you back at work. You read books on how to be a better hand holder, and you try and you get good at holding hands. Your coworkers can't believe that you are an intro-holder. After all, you have nothing against holding hands. You just don't want to do it all day!
That's what introversion feels like. Introverts are basically people who can go about their day without having the need to talk to someone every 20 minutes or so. It's not like we hate talking to people. We just don't want to do it all day!
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