If I like you enough to show you the real me...

I’m not open to many people.
I’m usually quiet and I don’t really like attention.
So if I like you enough to show you the real me, you must be very special.

What I think/What I say

To hug a hedgehog

It’s not always easy to hug a hedgehog.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

The funny thing about introverts

The funny thing about introverts is once they feel comfortable with you,
they can be the funniest, most enjoyable people to be around.
It’s like a secret they feel comfortable sharing with you.
Except the secret is their personality.

Introverts, how they work

Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more then they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.

Shyness...

Shyness has a strange element of narcissism,
a belief that how we look, how we perform is truly important to other people.
- Andre Dubus

Picure: Ponderabout.com

Please kindly go away, I’m introverting.

I’m rarely bored alone

I’m rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.
 - Laurie Helgoe

Alone

I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.
- Audrey Hepburn

I need more space.

How to care for introverts.

• Respect their need for privacy.
• Never embarrass them in public.
• Let them observe first in new situations.
• Give them time to think. Don’t demand instant answers.
• Don’t interrupt them.
• Give them advanced notice of expected changes in their lives.
• Give them 15 minute warnings to finish whatever they are doing before calling them to dinner or moving on to the next activity.
• Reprimand them privately.
• Teach them new skills privately rather than in public.
• Enable them to find one best friend who has similar interests and abilities: encourage this relationship even if the friend moves.
• Do not push them to make lots of friends.
• Respect their introversion. Don’t try to remake them into extroverts.

Peopled out.

I’m so peopled out that I’m not sure I want to talk to even You today.

© AaronT Caycedo-Kimura 

Introvert.

I’m not mad or depressed or antisocial.
I just need to not talk to anyone for a while.
And that’s okay.