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Hi everybody and welcome to a new Quote It Wednesday!
Today’s post is in honor of all my fellow introverts out there! The quote comes out of a book by Susan Cain called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and it just stood out to me so much (though this book was full of quotes that stood out).
I’ve been an introvert my whole life, and as such I’ve always felt insecure about that aspect of my personality. It’s true that introverts get a whole lot of “You should talk more”, “You should open up more” or “Why can’t you be more like X, (s)he’s so social” and that can be a real confidence breaker.
This book truly helped me deal with that aspect of my personality though. I began to truly understand myself as an introvert and began to really accept and love myself for who I am. (Though it’s still hard to do every day. Just recently I was told I should open up more and talk more and when I replied that I am an introvert, that is my personality and it’s who I am, I was told “You know, alcoholics say that too, that it’s just who they are. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to be better.” Cause yeah, introversion is so very comparable to alcoholism… But anyway)
So this post goes out to both my fellow introverts ánd my extraverted friends. Because all of us are great the way we are, and there is no need to change anything about us! Everyone shines, given the right lighting! <3
Need a little preview of this book? Check out Susan Cain’s TED talk:
I’m an introvert. And I can’t even count how many times people have told me “you should talk more.” As if it’s so easy. I can’t believe someone actually compared being an introvert to alcoholism… that blows my mind.
It’s so annoying when people say things like that. We’re not telling them to talk less, are we? And yeah, I honestly did not know how to respond to that, I was just sitting there like “did they just say what I think they said?”
I’m really surprised someone decided to compare being an introvert to being an alcoholic? Like, why is being quiet considered such a bad thing that it could be deemed comparable to something that actually hurts someone’s health?
Thank you for this post, though! I hadn’t heard of this book before, but now I’m really curious about it!
Yeah, I know, I was so shocked by that comparison, it was so hurtful and they didn’t even seem to realize the impact of what they said.
It really is an amazing book, definitely recommend! 🙂
Wow, that’s kind of crappy that someone would tell you to try to “be better” because you’re an introvert, like it’s a bad thing! Everyone is different. My husband and I are introverts; he can be very outgoing, but he definitely needs his alone time, too.
I know, introverts and extraverts are both valid personalities with their own advantages, to indicate one is the ideal to strive for is just hurtful. My husband is an extravert, but he likes to joke that he adopted my little introvert self, haha 🙂
I love that quote, wow. I think I’d enjoy the book too, because I’m also an extreme introvert and like you, I feel insecure about my personality at times. I think the book would be good for me to read!
If you’re an introvert, I’d definitely highly recommend this book! It really helped me understand myself and actually feel pretty happy with my introvertedness 🙂