(or, how my bloggy friends expand my horizons)

I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs personality test, or variations thereupon, several times over for either classes or workshops or group activities involving deep self-revelation. I’ve remained fairly consistent over the past decade, wavering only in areas where I don’t strongly lean one way or another. But I always am, and will always be, firmly on the side of the introverts*.

In one college class, after taking the test we broke off into two groups, introverts and extroverts. We were to make two lists: one list of things we associated with the other group, and one list of things we wanted the other group to know about us. The introverts went first. “We’re not really snobs, we just need time to think. We like our space, but we’re not antisocial.” The extroverts’ list? “Introverts can be snobby. Introverts are often antisocial.”

And, to some extent, the extroverts were equally as misunderstood by the introverts, who mistook their sociability for flakiness and found their need for human interaction to be just…needy. But still, it often seems that the quirks of an extrovert are somewhat more socially acceptable. In that light comes today’s post from Liz, highlighting an article written by Jonathan Rauch at The Atlantic: ‘Caring for Your Introvert‘, a tongue-in-cheek guide to help extroverts understand how the other half lives.

Are you an extrovert? Read it. Are you an introvert? Then, says Rauch, “We can only dream that someday, when our condition is more widely understood, when perhaps an Introverts’ Rights movement has blossomed and borne fruit, it will not be impolite to say ‘I’m an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush.’”

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Also from Cali comes ‘Dwelling in Possibilities‘. She says,

In the absence of any cogent analysis, I can only nod heartily in agreement.

*I’ll give a cookie to anyone who can accurately guess my four letter Myers-Briggs’ designation.