I'm an introvert. 100%. I can happily go days without speaking to another soul. In fact, my phone pretty much always stays on do not disturb and I only check it when I have a little energy for human communication.
You'd never know it if you met me at a party. I will wander around and talk to everyone. Outgoing, yet I'm not the loudest. I will take the introvert's approach and wander around having quality conversations with everyone there. What you don't see is the next two days of solitude it takes to recharge.
I've always wondered if there was something wrong with me. I see friends on Instagram constantly out with friends, and my housemates are hardly ever home while I spend night after night on my own.
I sometimes feel like I am lost in my own mind.
But I watched this inspiring TED Talk by Susan Cain called The Power of Introverts.
She suggests that asking introverts to conform to extrovert culture means the workplace and the world are missing out on their leadership and creative talents. She explains that over time we have moved from a culture that praises character to a culture that praises personality, where "qualities like magnetism and charisma" seem important.
Susan says that
"solitude is a crucial ingredient often to creativity.
Now, of course, this does not mean that we should all stop collaborating ... but it does mean that solitude matters and that for some people it is the air that they breathe.
If you look at most of the world's major religions, you will find seekers - Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad - seekers who are going off by themselves alone to the wilderness, where they then have profound epiphanies and revelations that they then bring back to the rest of the community. So, no wilderness, no revelations."
Susan concludes with three calls to action. Go and check out her talk for the first and third, but my favourite, and the inspiration for this empowering printable for introverts, is the second:
"Go to the wilderness. Be like Buddha, have your own revelations. I'm not saying that we all have to now go off and build our own cabins in the woods and never talk to each other again, but I am saying that we could all stand to unplug and get inside our own heads a little more often."
Sarah Cain has also written a book all about introverts and you can watch her TED Talk here.
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