One of my cousin who is one of the very few readers of this blog, had reminded me since eternity to update the blog, finally I have made that wish of his come true :-)
Today, our team had gone out for lunch at some nearby place. The discussions we had there while waiting (eagerly) for food to arrive gave me a topic to blog about
They were saying that sending kids to pre-school/ playgroups will make the kids extrovert, make them socially smart,give them better ability to deal with people.
Yes, sending kids to playgroups is a good thing, they get to quench their overflowing curiosity and express their abundant energy.
But I am sceptical about the second part, making them extrovert part.
I remember myself as being an introvert since the time I know myself. I too went to a nursery/ playgroup kind of a school, but looks like it did not help :-)
I am still an introvert and not as socially smart (don't know what that means)
So Obviously, I couldn't agree with "making someone an extrovert". Being an extrovert/ introvert is part of person's nature isn't it ?
That is why they make us answer those funny questions in a personality test and finally conclude you are introvert/ extrovert etc.-
Check your personality type - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers_Briggs_Type_Indicator
I will try to express (even though I am not an extrovert) here why I appear to be talking less (This is the most popular observation people have made about me)
In the process I will bore you with speaking about myself (as I consider people speaking about themselves all the time highly boring!)
Coming back to original point of making someone an extrovert, I think even if my parents had sent me to any number of schools, I certainly wouldn't have become an extrovert.
I believe you don't make anyone anything, you just guide him/her in their journey. (Another controversial opinion of mine!)
You would find me talking less because most of the times I don't want to share my thoughts with every next person I meet.
Also, I don't agree with many of the conventional ways of thinking, then if I start talking and making my point there will certainly be an argument, as I am an argumentative person
and don't like to quit my point. Once while debating on a nth topic with one of my friends, we kept on debating and had not slept till 2am in the night! :)
Some people you meet with are not really friends, they are acquaintances, and you cannot afford to get in to an debate with them. At those time I prefer not speaking much.
Now all these people start thinking that you are (probably) dumb! Doesn't speak much, doesn't participate in discussion etc etc.
Then again I am not an extremely well-read person, so if I don't know about the topic being discussed I just keep silent as I don't like to sound stupid. As I am not an extrovert I don't get affected by the fact that I am silent.I don't find silence uncomfortable,which is a weird thing for most extroverts.
I had a friend once who was also of the same opinion - If two people meet,and they don't have anything to say to each other, they just keep quiet.There is nothing abnormal in that.
In fact its very tiring to keep having uninteresting discussions on sports and weather , just for the lack of anything to say.Of course this is the opinion of an introvert.
Yes of course being an extrovert makes you popular in the society. When you are known to people you "might" progress faster. But there are lot of people, who are successful and are introverts which is the case for any given personality type, so success is an altogether different paradigm which doesn't only depend your nature.
Many times people who are close to me especially my mom makes me talk to people, as she knows I am not going to talk on my own! I get irritated as I don't have anything to talk to..
Its not because I don't like those people but I don't have anything on top of mind to share with them, so I just keep quiet. But people get offended by silence, which is surprising for me..
With people whom I know well AND get along well, its a different story altogether, I can keep chatting all the time.That's the reason I have very limited number of friends. I consider a friend as person you enjoy talking to, spending time with etc. I don't consider mere acquaintances as friends, as a result of this filter, my "number of actual friends" is again less
The extroverts don't like to see people alone, so out of concern they get someone for you to talk to, which can be unnecessary according to introverts! :)
I googgled and found this wikipedia article on introversion.
Introversion is defined here as - "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life"
This aptly describes my nature.
What type are you ? Introvert / Extrovert ?? :-)
