Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

This world likes its dichotomies, its binaries, its uneven halves. We have decided to divide ourselves into introverts and extraverts, now. Do you get energy from crowds, or do you find them draining? Do you "recharge" with alone-time, or are you restless and empty without people?

Here's a question: do you find that you label yourself in some attempt to find refuge in the naturalist fallacy?

What I mean is, do you use extraversion or introversion as an excuse to be less than your best self? Introverts have many important qualities, but they also have a reputation for being prickly when their energy is low, or when they are tired of company. They scrooge their time. Extraverts aren't spoken of in quite as great a detail (mostly because they don't think about themselves in quite the same detail, being, you know, extraverted), but such a brain will have its drawbacks. Extraverts probably don't keep secrets very well. They're probably difficult to pin down to personal time.

But while nobody should be constantly forced into a false identity, we're also not meant to let ourselves do everything we want. We're not designed for an easy life. We are meant to stretch ourselves into better people. We are meant to learn how to be civil when we're exhausted and frustrated at a party. We're meant to learn contemplation and meditation in a hectic world.

My roommates love throwing parties, and they always invite me. I hope they always do, though I doubt I will ever accept the invitation unless they hold the shindig outside: our house gets too crowded. It gets warm and uncomfortable, and I get panicky and bored. I'm not an introvert. I'm not an extravert either. I test 50/50. But I do have social anxiety and extremely specialized interests. I'm rubbish at parties. I am the Queen of Awkward.

What I'm trying to say is that we're human beings, no matter how much we wish we were newts. And not only should we be regularly pushing ourselves further into things that make us uncomfortable (for instance, last night I emerged from my room three times and spoke to several people, whereas previously they only saw me twice), but I also like to think that those around me are already doing the same: that whatever their personal comfort levels are, they are already several steps into the unknown, like me. If we all made an effort to make people feel comfortable, treating them as if they were a guest and we the host, it might encourage a kind of externality that would eventually render our social divisions obsolete.

Maybe. I dunno. Too abstract? You should watch the newt clip again.