I grew up around a lot of people but somehow at school, I never got the lot of making fast friends. Nor numerous ones. I had a couple, not enough to occupy every finger on a hand but they were for keeps. For a time, I came to think, and just naturally so that the quantity of your friends speak about you as a person. You could imagine my insecurity at having only so little that it came to a point that I mused if I was a bad person. I was a good student not only in an academic light. I was on the honor's list, I got sent to writing competions to represent the school and i won, i was in the volleyball varsity team. yes, i was perhaps a good student but that did not exempt me from pulling a good prank or two. All in all, i was a good specimen of holistic development yet why is it that i had only a number of friends? This of course, led me to observe those that had a lot. Let's just say that the my observation did not encourage my need to have more friends and so my attention was turned to possible underlying facts that might explain why it is that i have a few friends.
It was only in college that I learned psychology and true enough, I got my answer however late. an introvert is someone who find other people tiring, or at least that's my definition of it. introverts are not necessarily shy. shy people are anxious or frightened or self-excoriating in social settings. introverts also, are not misanthropic but i go along with sarte as far as to say that "Hell is other people at breakfast." Given of course that they're not my friends.
anyway, i'm glad that an exhaustive research via google search reveals that i am not alone. but, it is undeniable that i am part of the minority (25% that is to be exact). a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population - as proved by studies that introverts process information differently than other people. introverts tend to be more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive. introverts tend to think before talking while others think by talking. and i'm not making this up. i quote Jonathan Rauch on that.
anyway, this puts loads off my back after being called a loner or isolated at the office. if you bump into me, be sure to: one, understand that my being an introvert is not a choice, it is an orientation, two, never ask me if i'm alright or what's the matter when you see me lost in thought and lastly, don't say anything else either. hehehe.
i'm fine. you're fine. in small doses.