An Extroverted Introvert

This is what I have decided that I am.
Dictionary.com defines an introvert as "a person characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings", and an extrovert as "a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment."

I took a personality quiz for a class about a year ago. Part of the results said that I was an extrovert. Barely an extrovert, but still an extrovert. Sure, I'm a talkative, friendly person, and I sometimes care what everyone thinks, but extrovert doesn't really seem like me.  When I'm in my small group of friends, I"m usually the one to start cutting up first, but when I go to parties (even family ones where I've literally known the people my whole life), I take awhile to warm up. And, even then, I usually only talk to a few people for the majority of the time that I'm there. I'll usually sit at the table and just soak in everyone else's conversations.


I'm a person of observation. Though I don't really "people watch", I do notice little things about the people that I spend time with. I can usually tell what someone is going to say or do before they do it. If I think about bringing up a point before actually doing it, I can figure out what the other person is going to say, so I can always be one step ahead in the conversation. (In this way, I sort of feel like Gabriel from "The Dead" by James Joyce)


I'm the type of person who does most of their living and thinking in their head. I can walk to all of the different places on campus that I have to all by myself and be perfectly fine. Of course, while I'm doing that, I'm also mentally planning the rest of that day. I also would sit alone in the cafeteria and think to myself or read for the duration that I was there. I had friends that I made in my classes who felt bad for me and want to come sit with me while I ate, which I didn't mind, it was just hard for me to explain to them that I didn't mind eating alone either.


So, sure, I'm loud and talkative at times, and I wear ties on Wednesdays, and I'm in an acting class, and I'm in a drama troupe, and I blog and vlog, and I do all of these other expressive things, when you get to the core of what I am, I'm just a shy little introvert who just happened to have enough extroverted friends in high school who taught her to open up.


-andrea aka fred :)