I am sitting home alone on Saturday night, under the light of one lamp, the only sound the whoosh of a humidifier. Not quite alone: the dog sleeps in my chair. Not quite alone: I’m reaching out to untold numbers of others (at least 3, to tell). I used to think I was shy, but I had trouble reconciling that with my pleasure in teaching a classroom of students. (Not too many, though I have lectured to 200.) Merri and I are both introverts, although that probably surprises more people about her than about me. And, some of my best friends are introverts. (We should have a big party. Kidding!) peace, mjh

Leonard Pitts: For introverts, working alone works best – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

[W]here shyness is an outsized fear of other people’s disapproval or of social embarrassment, to be an introvert is to be inward turning, more at home in small, intimate groups than large, boisterous ones. It is to prefer the quiet to the loud, reflection to exhortation, solitude to socializing. …

[I]t is not that the introvert doesn’t enjoy the company of others. Rather, it’s that after a certain point, it leaves [one] feeling physically drained. That’s who I am — less Bill Clinton than Al Gore — and I’ve given myself permission to stop fighting it.

Leonard Pitts: For introverts, working alone works best – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

Has anyone read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. (I have not.)  peace, mjh