That's me on the left, doing what I love to do - show up at the event, drink all the coffee available, read my work in front of a crowd, hugs and kisses and chit chat and I leave. One of my writer friends in NYC used to call me the Odilia bird - comes in silently and is gone before you know it.
I am an introvert and, sometimes, people take it personally when I leave before the event or party is over. The buzz in the air, talk and movement of large numbers of people in a confined space is physically exhausting.
Interaction is hard.
Knowing yourself well helps to define what kind of work you can and cannot do. I could not be an event planner who arrives early, chats with everyone at the party and stays until the end. My former mother-in-law was extraordinarily adept at elegant, high-brow small talk. If I attempted to do her role, I would have fainted.
Public speaking is easy.
Standing behind a podium with my ideas lined up in my head like little soldiers, I feel calm and excited. As a writer, I want to share information that is organized - occasionally improvised - but meant to serve a clear purpose and to help an audience in some way.
I love people and a great get-together, event, party or crowded dancing. And I am aware of how long I can be in a crowd before I get exhausted and need to hop on a train or in a cab and go home to the ultimate recharge for me: silence and a book.
How do you manage your introvert, extrovert, ambivert personality?
