A professor at my university gave me a B+ in his marketing class. He told me I could’ve gotten an A if I had spoken up more in class. Thank you Susan Cain it all makes sense now.
Unfortunately every aspect of life in America has in some way been morphed into a competition, which can be a serious problem for some introverted people. People compete for jobs, for mates, in sports, in politics, etc. The less outgoing you are, the less likely you're expected to do well, succeed, or win. That's a terrible burden to place on otherwise, thoughtful, aware, intelligent people. Just because people approach life in a different way does not mean they should be made to feel devalued or less than anybody else. It's not right or fair. The upside to this though is that no one is 100% introverted or extroverted. As a lifelong introvert who grew up painfully shy as well, I can speak to the frustration and undeserved suffering sometimes imposed on the less gregarious set. Not fun at all. Fortunately I got better at dealing with it and feel no need to apologize for my uniqueness. We introverts aren't necessarily weird. We're just different, and different isnt always a bad thing.
Well spoken. I'm facing these fears as a 19 year old about to enter "society". It fucking sucks. The terrible burden you speak of is absolutely accurate to my experience. It feels so overwhelming I have told friends and family I would rather die trying to live off the grid than integrate into the terrible grindfest we call society.
Yes and, at work too. This happens all the time. The meeting environment is about fast responses to the exclusion of deep thought and people who lead with the Deliberation Clifton Strength. The asynchronous discussion model is more inviting for deep thought and independent of conversational timing (or peoples’ limitations around it).
