I’m here, I’m Intro, get used to it

There have been a couple of articles lately about a study that proposes that being an introvert isn’t a disease — that in fact it’s a basic personality type. Some of us need a couple (or a few) hours a day to ourselves, and find just one more social interaction in a day to be more than we can bear. I don’t normally look to the media or movements for affirmation of my self or my behavior, but in this case it was nice to see some recognition that just because I’m not an extrovert doesn’t mean I’m a freak. In fact, there was a period of time when I was incredibly sociable, late high school through college, but that also coincided with a time when I was incredibly drunk, so maybe that’s what it took. Like most introverts, I can deal with people one on one just fine, but I’m lost when faced with an undifferentiated crowd. Can’t just go up and introduce myself, jump right in to conversations. And, more baffling to more sociable people, I don’t want to. I’m perfectly happy to just sit back and watch, and that’s very confusing to others. Many people think that if you’re not mingling and meeting new people, you’re not having a good time, but that’s not true. My other quirks make it more difficult and probably make people think I’m more aloof than I really am — for example, when traveling with a group, I often like to go off by myself rather than hang with the group at night (there’s a core group of friends I often travel with that is the exception. Another example: you have to drag out of me what I do for a living. I just don’t see it as that interesting to talk about, and it sounds kinda high-falutin’ to wave a title around. And I need a few hours of the day when no one is talking to me, even if I have to eat into my sleep to get that. The realization that that is just normal was the most important thing I took from the recent attention to these ideas — there are people who just need time to be by themselves. It’s not a reflection on anyone else, it’s not a reflection on me. I need to be alone like other people need to be with people. I think if I could just schedule that alone time more effectively, I’d be a lot more sociable throughout the day.
These retirement parties are definitely stressing my sociability ability.
Would love to go skiing this weekend, although it’s going to be pretty warm and won’t have snowed for a while. Mount Snow is having a wear-something-green discount that Hannah is pretty jazzed about, and it IS her birthday weekend, and she IS allowed to resume skiing now. So we may do that. Gore had a death on the Uncas trail this week — they described the woman as an expert skier, and said that her skis came off but she continued into the woods and hit a tree. The trail is a diamond, but not dangerously steep, and it has plenty of room to move around.
It’s beautiful out. I want to blow off the afternoon to go skiing. Or ANYTYHING BUT THIS.