chronic introversion alert

[lauraredcloud]

I consistently come up at 100% Introverted on MBTI tests, but even I was left wondering "What planet are these people from?" when I heard this exchange on an NPR "To The Best of Our Knowledge" interview with John Cassiopo, a sociologist talking about the biological basis of loneliness.

STEVE PAULSEN: So on a practical level, it sounds like you're saying that we may need to force ourselves to go out and, I don't know, go hang out with other people, even when we don't really feel like it, but we kind of know it would be good for us.
JOHN CASSIOPO: Right. It's a little bit like exercise. I don't know about you, but the long runs are not something I cherish, especially in the winter, when I awaken, but by the time I finish, I'm grateful that I did it.

I guess I'll have some human interaction today. Even though it isn't something I cherish.

Comments

from Caolan

[(Anonymous)]

He's literally saying he doesn't cherish going running in the winter, right? But you're saying it is weird to compare talking to humans to having to go for a long, non-cherishable run? I just want to make sure he is NOT saying he does not cherish long runs of talking to humans in the winter.

Weird cherish-word-choice aside, his description of forcing yourself to hang out with people pretty accurately describes what it's like to be really depressed. When I'm really depressed I don't want to hang out with anyone but then I do it and I feel better. That's not what being healthily introverted is like, though, right? It's not like a horrible disease that eats away at your will to live until someone comes and bothers you into consciousness?

[myriadcreatures.livejournal.com]

Haha I'm the same way. Except that I rarely want to hang out with people because I know I'll feel terrible afterwards.
I just don't get why everybody else seems to think that the more time you spend with people, the better it is.