Introvert? Extrovert?: Ambivert.

9 months ago

This prompt honestly got me to analyze myself—am I a social person or not? I found out that being social doesn't only mean you get on social media and start adding friends, accepting friends on Facebook, or getting multiple numbers from people just to have them on WhatsApp.

A social person is a person who can relate to or interact easily; they are the most carefree set of people; they want to be involved; they keep a large number of friends and can still keep up with the communication and relationship; they are what I call free birds; they fly free in different corners of life; and wherever life puts them, they are able to pull through because of their easy-going personality. They are bubbly in nature sometimes, and as I said earlier, they like to be involved. This could be activities that showcase them to more people or events they find themselves in. And one important thing to note is that they enjoy this because they are friendly by nature. They are also called extroverts.

While an antisocial person is quite the opposite, they are not good at holding a conversation for too long; they remember their identity at that moment, and after that, they forget; they don't like being approached; they are called wallflower loners, shy, or introverts in some cases.

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So where do I fall in between these two? I would say none; I am more of an ambivert. I have only had one best friend all my life, and we meet when we were in highschool, I used to think back then I was like an open book, an extrovert because I could boil the same energy as an extrovert could, I could sing, dance and most of all I could entertain a lot of people when I talk but as growth matured me up, I found out half of the time I love not interacting, I didn't really fancy the idea of strangers or becoming friends with them, I found out I like to talk only when i have a deep relationship with the people around me, and they were few, but that doesn't mean if I shy away from conversation at first meeting, in fact I can keep a very friendly outlook with my colleagues in school but I can't keep contact.

This obvious realization came to me when I finally got into college, as a teenager who got freedom for the first time. Because I was living on campus, in the hostel to be precise, I had a lot of nice roommates. We were trying to bond by going out, gossiping, and getting to know each other in general. I was okay with bonding, but I still kept to myself. Going to clubs and outings were never my thing. I would prefer staying alone in the room with no one there. But when they were around, we all vibed. I could listen to them talk and not feel envious about their outings.

Well, the problem with this part of me is that I haven't really balanced both sides of being part introvert and part extrovert. Because, to a great extent, I will choose being reserved over my public self. Which would affect me because if you want to get some kind of opportunity, you need your social skills sometimes to get what you want, and in a working place where you have to socialize with your colleagues, you can't be an introvert and work for such companies when they need your input or contribution, and because you're an introvert, you can't drop your opinions on matters to help the company grow. So I need to find that balance as an ambivert.

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