My best friend sent me this TED talk from 2012 on Introverts. It's quite good. I like being around people but my whole life I have felt like I have had to hide the main part of me that just wants to be in the room and left alone to read my book or write my thoughts. We don't celebrate those people in our culture. I remember one teacher making the comment that it's the quiet ones who turn into serial killers and psychopaths. High school wasn't a lot of fun after that remark in class.
My sister has been at my place over the weekend and she and I have loved being lazy on the couch together watching "Doctor Who" and "Psych" while we pluck each other's leg hairs with tweezers. (Her idea because I detest shaving my legs; I retaliated in kind.) Today, I lay on the couch reading a book on my non-phone smartphone and she did her thing. There was no need to entertain one another. We have hashed Seasons 4-7 of "Doctor Who" to death wondering what lies next and if River Song will be in the 50th Anniversary Special and Season 8. Today, we read our books, played video games, and ate. There was no need to talk. And it was okay.
Susan Cain spent 7 years researching and writing her book "The Power of Introverts" and I feel better about who I am after hearing her speak for 19 minutes than I have in a long while. I'm not the one who doesn't fit in. I can put my suitcase full of books under my bed and pretend to be an extrovert but there are days I wish the fact that I enjoy reading a book as a social activity was accepted and celebrated behaviour.
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