In honor of World Introvert Day (and because I don’t have time to write a new post today because I am–gasp!–leaving the house shortly for dinner with about a dozen people [but it’s family, and it’s at my brother’s house, so it’s very manageable for me]) I’m reposting this list of signs that you may be an introvert that I came up with a few years ago on my former blog (harrietthespysblog.blogspot.com).
The Top Ten Signs You May Be an Introvert
10. You may be an introvert if you think organizing your stamp collection is a reasonable excuse for not going out for drinks after work.
9. You may be an introvert if you think Henry Brooks Adams was a genius for knowing that “One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.”
8. You may be an introvert if you’ve ever heard someone use a line like “I’m just not one for crowds” and filed it away in your memory, thinking, that’s one I can use!
7. You may be an introvert if the statement, “I never feel lonely, except in a crowd” makes perfect sense to you.
6. You may be an introvert if you secretly (or not so secretly) hate weddings.
5. You may be an introvert if you can’t believe your good fortune when you get home and find no messages on the answering machine.
4. You may be an introvert if you’ve ever had to be bribed to attend a party. (When I was about seven, I refused to attend a friend’s birthday party until my mother told me a secret: the prizes for those ridiculous games like musical chairs and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey were going to be…live dime-store turtles! Obviously, this was before the sale of baby turtles was banned due to concerns about salmonella.)
3. You may be an introvert if, in high school, when couples were slipping into supply closets to neck, you were slipping into them just to be alone for one goddamned minute!
2. You may be an introvert if the part of a recent party you enjoyed most was the 30 minutes you spent reading the label on the Listerine bottle in the hostess’ bathroom.
1. And…the number one sign you may be an introvert: if you’ve ever left a gathering to get something from your car and instead found yourself driving home, leaving your purse, coat, and spouse behind.
very good- Did you make all of these up on New Year’s Eve- at home with Tony?
Actually, Emily, this is a list I made up a few years ago and used as part of a post on my old blog: http://harrietthespysblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-am-introvertno-really-i-am.html
I love your blog! I arrived here via the Richard Blanco post. (He graduated from FIU where I work, so I knew his work before he became the inaugural poet.) I’m a pretty extreme introvert on the Myers-Briggs’ scale–a 9–INTJ–I hate parties and weddings (except my own which was a mercifully small, short and sweet college student wedding/reception combo after which we took off to our honeymoon. The only reason we even had a wedding reception was my husband–he’s a little more extroverted than me!) I love #5 on your list especially. My mother was very extroverted but the rest of my family was introverted, which helped., When the front doorbell rang at our house, all you would hear were everyone’s doors banging shut as we all ran into our rooms! Then one by one, we’d poke our heads out and see if anyone was actually going to answer the door–usually my Mom, of course! This is still my natural reaction today.
On another note, I loved Harriet the Spy and The Long Summer by Fitzhugh, I loved RB’s poetry, I am an apprentice poet myself with some publications–do you write poetry? I haven’t explored your whole blog so I don’t know. I’m actually pretty horrified when someone discovers my blog as I don’t intend anyone to read it–I hope that’s not the case with you!
Thanks, nebula61! I always love hearing from other introverts! I’m pretty extreme on the Myers-Briggs scale for introversion myself (I’m an INFP). Our family has one token extrovert, too–my oldest brother–and he’s as far to that side of the spectrum as I am to the other. My mom was an introvert who forced herself to act like an extrovert, and that’s what I find myself doing a lot, although as I get older I’ve finally learned to insist on the solitude I’ve always needed to recover from social interaction.
I love the name of your blog–“Blog as if no one is reading”–and I’ve looked at it a bit and bookmarked it to explore later. I’m actually excited when new people discover my blog, because I still dream of supporting myself as a freelance writer eventually, and nowadays I guess that means “building a platform.” (I’d be better at that if it involved a hammer, nails, and lumber!)