Grace Beatty
Children’s voices pierce the air. The sun burns bright in a crisp blue sky as they play on the blacktop. A boy kicks a ball through the air before sprinting around a painted kickball diamond. Four square games host lines of students, chatting away as they wait their turn. The swings creak, their seats full. Girls braid each other’s hair on the climbing rock, soaking in the warmth it absorbs.
Away from this chaos, one girl sits alone. Underneath a black lamppost, she shrinks into her bumblebee-colored coat, book in hand. Her little eyes dart back and forth, immersed in the story. Two kids walk past, ignored by the girl. This behavior could raise some questions. Is she socially developed? Is she mentally ill? Does she need medication?
Or perhaps it’s normal, a part of her introverted personality.
Introverts have often been categorized as shy, unconfident people, which couldn’t be further from the truth. It is not self-esteem that defines the introvert, but how they obtain and expend energy.
Kate Bartolotta explains this well in her Huffington Post article, “What Is it Really Like to be an Introvert?” She compares an introvert’s energy storage to a cup. Each moment an introvert spends with other people, a little more energy is taken from the cup. Once it’s empty, they need to go spend some alone time to fill it back up.
The opposite is true for those on the other end of the spectrum. Extroverts need to spend time socializing to fill their cups and become drained when solitary. People can usually identify themselves with one type or the other, but some are an equal mix of both, called ambiverts. However, someone cannot be all introvert or extrovert. Carl Jung, the psychologist who popularized “introvert” and “extrovert,” describes such a person as “a man who would be in the lunatic asylum.”
Introverts’ tendency toward being alone depends on the amount of energy they can hold in their cup. Some introverts are able to spend more time socializing, to the point where they may be mistaken for extroverts. But there are others who aren’t as easily motivated by social stimulation, their cups holding a small fraction of energy. These people might want to take solitary trips to restaurants or libraries, or stay at home, in contrast to going out each night and meeting new people.
Such introverts may appear, upon observation, anti-social, even hermitic. Those who prefer more extreme seclusion, or who speak only on occasion, could be labeled mentally ill. But this isn’t new. According to an article published in Psychology Today, the World Health Organization has included “introverted disorder of childhood” in its medical manual, “International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems,” for years. Having their personality catalogued in a book of mental illnesses gives introverts the hint that something is wrong with them.
Susan Cain writes often about Steve Wozniak in her book “Quiet.” Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple, worked often on what he called “The Dream.” His dream was to make a computer that used a screen and a keyboard and was small enough to use at home. He spent his time working on this prototype. According to “Quiet,” each morning he’d show up at work “around 6:30, and… read engineering magazines, study chip manuals, and prepare designs in his head. After work, he’d go home, make a quick spaghetti or TV dinner, then drive back to the office and work late into the night.” He labored alone and loved it, recalling it as “the biggest high ever.”
As a child, Wozniak studied alone, his skill with computers placing him on the low end of the social ladder. But he didn’t mind. He welcomed the solitude as a chance to spend more time messing with circuits and playing with knobs.
He’s not the only example. Bill Gates, another introvert, founded Microsoft and became a billionaire. Rosa Parks, a soft, quiet person, launched the Civil Rights movement with one act of bravery aboard a bus. Even actresses like Audrey Hepburn have described themselves as introverts.
An important part of these famous introverts’ stories would be missing if we only focused on one end of the spectrum. The fact that Wozniak met extrovert Steve Jobs is crucial in explaining the founding of Apple. Had it not been for Jobs, Wozniak would have had a more difficult time bringing his “Dream” to the world. Parks met Martin Luther King Jr., who helped raise awareness for Civil Rights by making groundbreaking speeches to huge crowds. It’s where the idea started—in solitude—that matters.
Just because someone is an introvert doesn’t make him or her better than anyone else. But to direct them from the world turning inside their heads to the party going on outside could rob the world of other great advances. Everyone has been created differently, to act differently, think differently, and express differently than everyone else. It’s what makes them individuals, helping to shape their future.
The future that little girl—curled up with her book in the bumblebee coat—will create.
