My Support Forums - View Single Post - Introvert, Extrovert, Both, or It Depends?

Lilly2 · Nov 09, 2019, 11:54 AM

I took a few tests in the past, one that was disseminated by a pastoral counselor, the others online. The majority results concluded that I am both an introvert and an extrovert. I'm not sure how far that diverges from "it depends," but there are times when my chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) prevents me from doing extroverted things like going out and socializing, having the energy to socialize, etc. Sometimes our finances get in the way of that, too. There are many factors that contribute to whether or not we socialize. But our key personality preferences tend to fall within the realm of introversion, extroversion, or both.

I'm sure that trauma can also cause interference with our preferences in this regard.

In many ways, all of the above plus some unmentionables have caused me to be more introverted than I would have liked. I wished that I had the energy and courage to be more extroverted, that is, if I didn't have PTSD or CFS.

Then there are situational factors, such as whether an event is safe, new to the person experiencing it, etc. It's easy to be shy when meeting new people, for instance, and therefore more closed off. It's also easier to be more extroverted with friends and/or family whom you've built a rapport with, and whom you trust. It's much harder with strangers, those who have wronged us in the past, etc. I'd say that "it depends..." would fall under this category when someone isn't aware of their preference and/or when their preference has been hindered by societal factors of some kind.

For those of us who are both, I would assume that we need a balance between alone time and socialization time - that is our preference, when all else is not being considered (such as our mental disabilities). We tend to want a good work-life balance that includes "me time" and "other time."

For those who are inclined to be more extraverted (and not based on our mental disorders), it is because we feel fueled when spending time with other people, and the only time we want alone is when we're in need of rest and/or privacy. Even then, we crave the next social event.

For those of us who are introverted, I'm assuming that our energy gets depleted around others, so we limit our time with others (even though we need human contact, that is, when setting aside our mental disorders) so that we can refuel by spending alone time. We mostly like working alone, or doing certain projects alone, such as those who are artists, engineers, accountants, etc. Then again, those fields could also include extroverts, too, but it's the only example I can think of at the moment.

There might be better explanations from others here, so I'm only offering the explanations I, myself, have experienced and/or witnessed. Being that I scored on both in the past, I'm not at the extremes of either, but I'm somewhere in the middle. Physically and socially, however, I'm more introverted these days because of my medical and mental health conditions. Still, as you can tell, I post a lot on PC, which demonstrates my extroversion, too. I also enjoy my own home projects, apart from my aspirations to do research and collaborate with other professionals one day.

So this is me - an extrovert-introvert mix.