Apparently extroverted-ness is a dominant gene because I'm the only one in my family who doesn't have it, which was especially obvious yesterday. It was the Dragonboat Festival in China and my husband made plans to meet up with 4 other families at 9am on Saturday morning and drive to Pinggu to race dragon boats. He was giving me the detailed plans Friday night and it included a picnic lunch, picking fruit at different orchards, and of course the dragon boats. To me this was starting to sound like a very charged day so I asked him when we would get home and he said by ten at the latest.
"That's only an hour!" I said.
"No, that's thirteen hours," he replied.
And he doesn't think this is an exhausting agenda at all, he's completely energized by the thought of this day. And our kids are practically wagging their tails at the prospect of all this activity.
I gave in but asked if we could stay home on Sunday and relax, and my extroverts agreed.
Now it's Sunday morning and one of the first things Grant said was, "Today's the day we have to relax, right?"
The day we have to relax. That's one way of looking at it, I guess. I think my extroverted kids and husband need me to keep them balanced and I need them for the same thing. Meanwhile, if there are any introverts out there in blogosphere who can relate please leave me a comment about how you keep your extroverted loved ones from socializing themselves into oblivion.
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It is extra/intra-vertness. It is the raw energy that must be spent. When my family go shopping and want daddy to go with them. I bring a book, my iPod, maybe a computer, and find a good spot in the food-court to become their "anchor" where shopping bags pile up during the hours. They will drop by, give me a hug, and happily disappear into the maze of the mall.
When we go skiing, the reverse happens. I will do a few runs, come back to the anchor, eat, chat, update, re-energize, and off again. They will be oblivious of my stopping by and busy chatting, playing cards, reading, etc.
It is still valuable to be together.
Posted by Sin-Yaw Wang on June 08, 2008 at 02:07 PM CST #
I wouldn't categorize that as introvert/extrovert but a question of preference. I generally like the outdoors, museum kind of env and tend to be very active in those places while my friends/relatives tend to be very active in places like mall, social gatherings etc where I sit in a comfortable place and watch the world pass by. I gladly overhear any gossip as well because it is a lot of fun!
Posted by Madhan Kumar on June 08, 2008 at 04:02 PM CST #
I like the idea of being each others' anchors at different times, Sin-Yaw. Thanks for that image.
Maddy that's an interesting observation that some people can be more active in certain environments than others. I've always laughed at my husband, who can run on a soccer field for 90 minutes with no problem, yet if you put him in a shopping mall he can hardly make it from one end to the other. :)
Posted by melanie gao on June 08, 2008 at 09:59 PM CST #
No matter if you're intro or extro, I think everyone needs relax time. I'm about as extroverted as they come, but this whole life-crisis we're in has made me re-evaluate how important it is to RELAX and do absolutely nothing. I think you're on the money on this one, Mel....very necessary.
Posted by christin on June 10, 2008 at 05:29 AM CST #
as an extrovert (one who is energized by people) I agree, a day of relaxing is critical!!! Rest up....
Posted by Barb on June 12, 2008 at 12:14 AM CST #