I just had this idea yesterday:
If you think, "sometimes I need to be alone," you're probably an extravert.
If you think, "sometimes I need people," you're probably an introvert.
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I think I'm an introvert... but *some* of my friends think that I'm an extravert. I'm not sure why. They say that I seem relaxed and not afraid of what I look like in other people's eyes (which is not *entirely* true but it's cool if I seem that way to someone). Also, during lessons at school I sometimes act quite extraverted, asking a lot of questions and making my own observations known. It's the same with online forums: if I read a thread, I usually feel the need to write my own comment. It makes me feel good to say what I think (if not too many people are present). I wonder if this means that I'm an extravert.
(It's all very weird because sometimes I've even suffered panic attacks in social situations, which contradicts this relaxed side.)
I also like to be in public places alone just to be "around" other people even if I don't interact with them. And it's easier for me to concentrate on reading or to fall asleep when there's noise or life or other social clutter in the background. I don't want to take part in it, but it makes me feel safe and like everything's fine. Ok so maybe this is some childhood conditioning thing and not an MBTI thing at all, I don't know. I just don't understand how background clutter and noise can irritate most people so much, because it really soothes me.
So basically I enjoy the feeling of being alone around people. E thing or I thing?
But I would hate to know a lot of people and lack good friends, which indicates introvertedness again. My ideal is a few meaningful relationships, but I prefer being honestly lonely to having an active yet meaningless social life. Even when I'm relaxed and don't care what other people think about me (which is not always), I'm not interested in interacting with a lot of people personally (and perhaps that's exactly why I don't care what they think).
Argh. Everything is so complicated.
