#intoversion

Carl Jung coined the terms introversion and extraversion, and he originally defined them as follows:

An introvert is a person who begins their thinking process with a subject, then moves to an object, and then finishes their thinking process with the subject. An extrovert is the reverse- they begin their thinking process with an object and also end with an object.

Essentially what this means is that introverted thinking begins with something in ones internal world of thoughts and feelings and also ends there, while extroverted thinking begins with something outside of one's internal world and ends there. These days we tend to think of introversion and extraversion as the degree to which one is comfortable in social situations, but if anything this is only auxiliary to the original definition.

For example, it's common for extroverted thinkers to come up with moral codes by which they believe the whole world should operate. For them the source of morality comes from somewhere external, such as religious dogma, philosophy, etc (and sometimes introverted thinkers get forced into this kind of thinking unnaturally). The result is a rigid worldview based on "objective" principles, and when some aspect of themselves or the world goes against this principle, they either subtly alter the principle in their thinking or experience neurosis.

And it probably goes without saying that people who think this way are not always social, although it also isn't impossible.

If you're an introvert, you probably start with yourself in your thinking and end there as well. Which makes it especially difficult to hear all of these people telling your you're a bad person if you do x or y thing, because you can internalize it in a way that the people moralizing really can't. And that's kinda sad because that voice that you internalize that says you're a bad person for having the experience that you're having is a major block to your creativity.

In this society we're conditioned to believe that it's bad to stay in your internal world of thoughts and feelings, and that we should focus all of our attention on things outside of us. I'm here to tell you that it's a bunch of bullshit. The way that you think and interact with the world is beautiful. It's the way of thinking that births real original art.

So... I've been seeing a lot -I mean, a lot- of mental health "advice" floating around about forcing yourself to "get out there and socialize" because "socialization is essential to human beings." While this may be true, please be cognizant of your own mental health needs. If you are on the Hermit end of the Introversion spectrum, you probably already know that you require minimum social interaction and much more alone time for your optimum mental health. So I'm just saying, don't feel pressured to push yourself into what is actually damaging to your mental health, just because there's a flood of "advice" out there pushing extroversion/socialization.

(This is not addressed to people who are more in the middle of the extroversion-introversion spectrum, and definitely not for extroverts; your depression/feeling down could very well be related to not enough social interaction -please seek professional help if possible.

A couple summers ago my dad bought me Quiet by Susan Cain when he was in an airport in some far off place in the world on a work trip. I ignored the book because it was non-fiction and something that I found that I wasn’t interested in reading. I felt bad about it because my dad said that I would relate to the writings of Cain and that I would fin the work important. And to be honest, with my first attempt - I didn’t. The guilt of not finishing the book the first time had me pick it up again in quarantine and I do not regret it. 

-talk on the phone

-go out to a crowded bar or any crowded venue for that matter

-small talk

-hang out with people