In a world where introverts have become second-class citizens and extroversion has become an appealing personality trait, I am starting to feel like extroversion has developed into an oppressive standard which most of us have to conform to. Just check any of today’s job requirements and tell me that ‘has to be able to work in teams’ and ‘must be outgoing and outspoken’ is not proof enough of that.
It’s sad that we constantly have to apologize for our shyness or constantly be told over and over again to ‘come out of our shells.’ I mean let’s face it, it looks like introverts are not going to win at their nine to five lives anytime soon. But I disagree.
Some of the greatest inventions in the world came from people who you might categorize under the umbrella of ‘introverts,’ inventions such as:
1. Peter Pan
2. Harry Potter
3. The Theory of Gravity
4. E=mc2
5. Google
6. The Cat in the Hat
7. Schindler’s List
8. Chopin’s Nocturnes
Indeed, Winifred Gallagher, a science journalist once wrote, “Neither E=mc2 nor Paradise Lost were dashed off by a party animal.”
According to one of my all time favorite books ‘Quiet: the power of introverts in a world that can’t stop speaking’ the author defines introverts as people who are drawn to the inner world of thought and feeling, they focus on the meaning they make of the events swirling around them, introverts recharge their batteries by being alone whilst extroverts need to recharge when they don’t socialize enough.’
Where does that leave us introverts in a world that is so obsessed with talking? We listen before we speak, we listen more than we talk, we tend to invest our energies only on those close to us, we hate conflicts, despise small talk and we find power in working alone. All these things cause a great deal of prejudices against us introverts. I think author Sophia Dembling puts it perfectly when she says “One of the risks of being quiet is that the other people can fill your silence with their own interpretation: You’re bored. You’re depressed. You’re shy. You’re stuck up. You’re judgmental. When others can’t read us, they write their own story—not always one we choose or that’s true to who we are.”
Whilst we are actually all these things, this leaves us in the middle of a major power struggle between finding power in working alone Vs. the new group thinking that dominates the business world nowadays.
You as an introvert should stop pretending to be anything other than that for the sake of society’s ever-changing ideals and start believing that whilst your powers and skills are less obvious they are no less formidable.
