Whether we’re behind the podium or awaiting our turn, numbing our bottoms on the chill of metal foldout chairs or trying to work some life into our terror-stricken tongues, we introverts feel the pain of the public performance. This is because there are requirements to being a writer. Other than being a writer, I mean. Firstly, there’s the need to become part of the writing “community”, which compels every writer who craves self respect and success to attend community events, help to organize them, buzz over them, and—despite blitzed nerves and staggering bowels—present and perform at them. We get through it. We bully ourselves into it. We dose ourselves with beta blockers. We drink. We become our own worst enemies for a night of validation and participation.
This is interesting, but I think that it is using an incorrect definition of introversion. I interpret an introvert as someone who prefers to spend time by themselves or in situations in which they are working on their own, rather than in situations in which they are interacting with other people. This does not mean that they necessarily need to feel extreme stress at public speaking or at parties/social events. They may feel bored, annoyed, frustrated, or indifferent to these events, or they may even like them, but feel the opportunity cost of the time they take is not really worth it.
“our terror-stricken tongues, we introverts feel the pain of the public performance”; “blitzed nerves and staggering bowels”; “We bully ourselves into it. We dose ourselves with beta blockers. We drink. We become our own worst enemies”
This doesn’t sound like introversion. This sounds like an anxiety disorder.
Hmm, I generally read introvert as “recharges when alone”, whereas extrovert “recharges with others”. I don’t usually associate introvert with being unable to do public speaking. That’s a phobia, isn’t it?
An Introverted Writer’s Lament by Meghan Tifft
This is interesting, but I think that it is using an incorrect definition of introversion. I interpret an introvert as someone who prefers to spend time by themselves or in situations in which they are working on their own, rather than in situations in which they are interacting with other people. This does not mean that they necessarily need to feel extreme stress at public speaking or at parties/social events. They may feel bored, annoyed, frustrated, or indifferent to these events, or they may even like them, but feel the opportunity cost of the time they take is not really worth it.
This doesn’t sound like introversion. This sounds like an anxiety disorder.
Hmm, I generally read introvert as “recharges when alone”, whereas extrovert “recharges with others”. I don’t usually associate introvert with being unable to do public speaking. That’s a phobia, isn’t it?