By Nurin Najmina Zaidi
I was walking with my roommate, H. to go to Mahallah Hafsah just to check out the cafeteria. And after buying some food for dinner and on my way back to my mahallah, I found a single flower just like the picture above.
There are actually a lot of flowers in other bushes, but this one catches my eyes and it was all alone. It reminds me of my introverted self. The weird thing is that I’m an introvert taking law course which requires the students to talk a lot.
A lot of people thought an introvert means people who don’t talk a lot, or in other words, “pendiam”. People’s perceptions of introvert are more on the negative side.
Some people thought that introverts are hard to make friends with or not good at socialising and will always be forever alone. And also because we live in the loudest world where people favour the one who talks a lot, which to them is a symbol of leadership and bravery.
However, each and every one has his or her own strength, including introvert. Introverts have their own strengths such as, while they are quiet on the outside, their mind is the nosiest as they can process a lot of information and their strength is more on thinking, which makes them creative and observant.
Yet, if they’re not careful with it, this would lead to overthinking which can tire us out mentally.
Besides that, they become more sensitive and focus on their surroundings and also on people’s emotions, resulting in them having high empathy towards others. The bonus part is that they can also be a good listener.
While society painted them as “not the best person to be friends with”, it is actually the contrary. Having an introvert friend can actually make the friendship even stronger, especially when you have friends who are opposite to you. For example, if the other one is an extrovert and likes to socialise, an introvert prefers to listen to them.
Also an introvert doesn’t really mean that the person is quiet all the time. Some of them can talk like usual and they can also act like a leader. Not all of them are shy nor like being alone. Introverts have a lot of different types.
- Social Introvert
These types of people like to be alone only if they wanted to. While it looks like this introvert is always alone, he or she is not lonely. Some of them prefer that way. Just like the flower above, even though it’s alone but it is still blooming regardless of anything.
These types of people only talk if they have to and usually with their closest friends. While they may appear to be socialising and having fun, it is actually slowly draining their energy and emotions. Which is why they need a break by spending their time alone.
- Introspective Introvert
This type of introvert likes to spend their time on their head. The observant type where they like to think about what they saw or heard. Or you could say that they are more self-reflective. People might misunderstand them as a person who likes to be lost in their thought but in reality, they’re more into deep thinking.
- Anxious Introvert
These types of people are the ones who have to struggle when communicating with people, which can affect their social anxiety. This is the type of person that most people thought of introvert; shy, quiet, and not socialising a lot. These types of introverts are not that bad. They can be an amazing person if they manage to calm their mind and not be too overthinking.
- Restrained Introvert
This introvert is the calm one. They can socialise with people but might be picky when they wanted to approach someone. They are also the ones who are more likely to think before they act. However, just like the first type of introvert, their social bar has its own limit and needs to recharge their energy back.
Being an introvert is not necessarily a bad thing. Introverts don’t have to change their personality just because the world tells them too or just because you want to fit in. Trust me, I’ve been there. It feels like you’re trying too hard that you end up hurting yourself mentally.
But, people with this personality should embrace it. Because there are a lot of things that we don’t know about ourselves and could even change the world even the slightest.***