The Introvert and Social Anxiety

Theres nothing wrong with me completely, its just my personality!
For a very long time I never understood myself.
Social anxiety cannot be blamed on merely withdrawal from social settings.
Its more deeper than that.
Some people are more different from others.
My background, my upbringing and my religious persuasions have all impacted who and what I am.
The short of the matter is alienation from social settings within reason is not unusual behavior.

Introverts may find religion, God, nature, pets, drugs, alcohol, food, material things or themselves as  a source of comfort in a painful world.
Some may neglect the institutional settings of society altogether, separating themselves while watching the world deteriorate, and wont feel a thing. Society can make us cold. We have a hard time in the job world as very few professions cater to our need for expression. We dont start well in college. We want to shine our true selves but fear of rejection by societies standards hinders us. So we end up rebelling against church, school and all other organizations we may see as oppressive. We are not bad, we are booed. We wont push, but given the chance we can take over the world because we have powers of mind.
Other introvert may have a dont care attitude simply because they are fed up of the way things are- nobody wants to give them a listening ear. And that is the mistake of extroverts- the neglect of introverts for being unconfident, untalkative or reserved. Given the chance we can blow you away. The truth is- we are outnumbered by extroverts- and we are still trying to fight fair.


It is said that no man is an island and no man stands alone;
While this is true
 that does not exclude the feelings of being different of loneliness and uniqueness that some personalities afford.
The personality type of my discussion is of course Introversion. It is very serious.
Allot of discrimination and misunderstanding exsists toward this temperament even today.

The reason being that not many people in history showed high closeness to this personality type except the greats.
I am telling you right now the life of an introvert is not easy. There are challenges unseen.
There are potentials to reap. However, most introverts never find themselves and are more often stepped over by society, time and time again. This happens because
They are expected subconsciously to conform, to fit-in, to submit, to convert, to partake, to adhere into a world designed primarily for extroversion temperament. For this reason some may hide away from the public live a secluded lifestyle  and become a recluse closing themselves of from people. This is not good.

It reminds me of the Mutants in X-MEN movie. Ever seen that movie? They had to hide because they were considered freaks of nature, they believed society would not accept them as they are (which was true). On the other side,
the evil mutants tried to destroy society because of its hatred toward them. Very interesting analogy.

Introverts can get depressed, lonely, suicidal or insane very easily. This is because of the intense emotional temperatures they can experience when involved in deep thinking and creative activity. Its simple. If introverts do not control the temperature of their emotions by watching the environmental stimulations they receive from other people while balancing their tanks with satisfying activity refreshing their mental batteries they can short and go into a hypo phase, become irritable, angry, violent or even depressed. They have to watch their stimulation because their mind is like a sponge-delicate to their surroundings. Through practice they can build a tolerance level, but only.

Mostly introverts dont see the need for being pleasant all the time. They hate routine and idle chattering. They like things simple and real and cant be bothered with compliance or stupid rules. But because we are introverts we internalize our thoughts- we do this for the benefit of your feelings. We care about you. At the same time we can be affected by fear because of oversensitivity and we generally try to avoid confrontation whether verbal or physical. Some might even run from a fight. But when we reach our limit, we loose all reason. Like the kid who shot up a school just like that killing his classmates- for example.
For us to hurt you would be like hurting ourselves. When an introvert looses his temper, you better know that something is wrong for him/her to be acting this way. And whenever we take drastic measures, its always for a reason. We are just not dramatic.

Their weather scale is unpredictable
merely due to their unique mode of operation.
If they discover in time who they are, like I have, they can tap into the world of
their imagination and creativity and drop bombs with their unique thoughts. They have a creative mind.
For the introvert, its all about the inner world, the imagination. We look at the world with a different eye.
We like to have space. We dont like to be told what to do. We want to do things our way.
At the same time we are deeply in-tuned to the needs of others.
We hold alot inside and we bear much pain. We really have the best of both world.
What do I mean?At times our lack of concern for others could make us  appear evil
and completely selfish if we dont control the affections of our hearts.
In essence we have high potential for good
and unfortunately high potential for Evil.We can destroy the world.

 Because Introverts value the inner world of their imagination by nature, if they do not cater to their need of privacy and expression in some profitable pursuit where they can be themselves- they will wither and die. Its almost like if you dont give a plant water and expect it to grow.
Of course some introverts deny themselves totally to fit into an extrovert world- all to their detriment.
 Its sad some dont even know they are introvert. They find themselves in awkward social settings and wonder why they are not free spirited and enthused as others . They try to avoid the crowd by going directly to the crowd injuring themselves more! They dont know when to pull back and just enjoy their own company. They conform so that people will love them when they dont even love themselves. They treat themselves so bad and they dont even know it.

But im here to say that being an introvert is wonderful.Its a God given nature that needs to be exploited for its benefits. The only way to escape this temperament is to accept it, which means to understand it. Know who you are by reading about introversion. The sooner you accept your personality, the easier it will be to mingle and socialize because now you'll have control over any situation. Equally you have to find what your ability or talent is. Use it. Thats the only way. That is your defense. You may not have the best social skills, be the most talkative guy who seems to attract many hot girls but you might be an excellent writer or artist or poet. Maybe you're the next Eminem!Your gift will lift you above your weakness and eventually bring you the attention of others.

 Slowly as you use your talents it will grab the attention of other giving you the best of both worlds.

Because Introverts are highly sensitive and internalize everything-
they can take to heart and even tears
the meanest moments of social failures. Unfortunately we do care about what people think about us.
To an extent thats healthy. But the insecure introvert may take it a step further by being personal.
 No wonder so many Introverts are Schizophrenics, who abuse drugs and alcohol, I totally understand.
They give in to the pressure to fit in and be cool and mess up themselves. They dont know what they have!

Its not that the introvert doesn't want friends or doesn't have friends or is a loner
he is just so extremely critical of himself  and others and wont go out of his way to prove a point.
He is laid back and calm and normal on the surface but inside his mind is deep like the ocean.
Introverts want to go on dates, go to parties, have fun, converse one on one, but it is difficult for us because
we are over critical thinkers- we cant turn this off like a switch- we need it for creative purposes. When we want to party, nobody is there to party, when we want to chill- we only see ourselves in the mirror. When we do party however infrequent, we are not aware of our high, these are special moments.

Introverts may be diagnosed with bipolar. Not all get to this state. Not all become Schizophrenics.

Introverts are not shy, when we come around we dont need help to bubble.
Our emotions at times override logic- and we can be over-trusting and naive. At times we get hurt for this.
As I said, we can take to heart any negative presumptions aimed at us.

On the other hand, those introverts whose hearts have been made
cold by negative social experiences can really do harm to society.
Instead of using their gifts for societies betterment- they make themselves rich
and watch society suffer. They rape the values of society because society raped their innocence- eye for an eye.
Again its all because of our highly sensitive nature. We have to learn to survive in a world of extroverts.
We have to put on a shield most times to protect ourselves from the woes of the world. If we dont do this we can be mistreated- its a survival strategy. Some introverts can appear overly mean when deep down they're not. Some appear overly kind, when they would rather not share. Its tricky.They do this because we recognize that we have an obligation to the feelings others. We survive as introverts by being tricky, impersonating extroverts when we have to.

Not all introverts make it. Some commit suicide. Some get ruled by the negative side of their emotion
and become Schizophrenics and blame society by thinking people are out to harm them. Some do harm to the world using their brain as a weapon.
But while this is not to defend the wrong course of some introverts- the world is partially to blame for the misfortunes of fhese victims.

Let me say, extroverts on a whole can display introvert behavior, but to what extreme?We all tip on side of the scale or the other.

Some of the worlds greatest writers, musicians, artists, builders, poets, politicians and skilled people were introvert dominant which means they exhibited more introversion trait than extroversion.
I will tell you a few most notable people who I believe are highly introverted

Eminem, Lady Gaga
Barack Obama

All these are interests of mine, selected because of preference.

So the world can learn alot from introversion.Take the time to know us, understand us and you'll see we are loyal people. We dont hesitate to move. Showing an introvert some interest can go a far way. We take time to study people by observing them. We are silent but very talkative inside- our mental activity wont shut up. It wont take us long to come around once we know you.
 Its obvious the world needs to be more introverted. The world needs more people who are laid back, calm, kind, gentle and patient. Who think deeply about life and invent things to make society better. There needs to be a balance of the two types. Importantly, introverts need to be saved before its too late. An introvert who uses his potential for evil has some painful experience with himself. Help make our lives better. You need us as much as we need you.

Mythical_Poet