By Hannah Schenker
Are you a daydreamer? Would you prefer to spend an afternoon buried in books to going out socialising with friends? Do you have a quiet, creative child? Do they feel drained by the stimulation and social expectations of their school life?
Perhaps you can identify as being an introvert. Perhaps you have an introverted child. A third to a half of the population is introverted…that is a lot of us! Yet we live in a world that values extroversion – being outgoing, social, speaking loudly, going to parties and bars, enjoying constant stimulation and excitement.
Introverts typically:
- Enjoy time to themselves. Alone time is recharging time – time to spend reading books, listening to music, enjoying solitude.
- Are introspective, focused on internal thoughts and emotions, rather than easily expressing them.
- Find crowds stressful and some say they feel more alone in a big crowd than when on their own.
- Can feel drained by other people’s energy.
- Start to shut down after too much activity, likely a way of conserving energy.
- Can come across as quiet, soft-spoken, shy or withdrawn.
We are all a combination of introversion and extroversion but can usually identify with one more than the other. That is all fine, but culturally we need to bring in a better balance so that introverts can allow those traits in themselves to exist and give themselves the space and time to explore their creativity and live in tune with their natural tendencies.
This TedEd talk by Susan Cain explores the power of introverts in an extroverted world and is really interesting. It may help you discover new things about yourself, or help you to parent your introverted child in a more understanding way.
You can read more about having a quiet child here and take a quiz here!
Hannah Schenker is a freelance writer, editor and regular contributor to The Natural Parent Magazine. She lives with a touch of magic in Golden Bay, New Zealand.
