Monday, June 19, 2006

Introvert, Part II

Yeah, I marvel at Michael who can always somehowturn the conversation right over effortlessly and keep it going evenwhen what he says is not necessarily profound or interesting. What hecomes up with is perfectly tuned to the sense and flow of theconversation. But it's not words that are particularly intended toconvey ideas or mean things. It's words that socialize—thatsimply continue the conversation. It's chit-chat. I have no gift forthat. I have to think about what to say next, and sometimes I can'tthink fast enough and end up saying something stupid. Or sometimes Ijust come up dry and the conversation kind of ends for while until Ican think of another topic. This is why it's work for me. It takespositive cognition on my part. I think that's probably a core introvertcharacteristic that you and I have in common and which can probably bedistinguished from shyness per se—that small talk takes consciouseffort and is very hard work. There's nothing small about small talk ifyou're an introvert. But we're good at big talk.

-- Jonathan Rauch, from "Introverts of the World, Unite!"


An interesting sequel to the other article I discussed. This stuff just resonates with me so much. Perhaps I'll stop trying to "get over" my introversion and just embrace it.

Or maybe not.

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

You know what you do? You just get extroverted friends. They'll do the small talk for you. You're introverted friends can be your adventure buddies. There's nothing to talk about when your having fun doing something.