Manic Depressive Illness: A guide to Caring for Introverts
I stumbled across this on facebook and thought it would be great to share on this blog, especially after my last post. This is definitely a great list and it really does represent the introvert.
(http://www.facebook.com/TheIntrovertEntrepreneur)
The following is my response to this chart on facebook, I thought I should re-post it on this blog, as an extension/continuation of my last post:
“What makes me happy is that, introversion is becoming a popular topic, for the longest time introverts were seen as “abnormal,” but with the increase in memoirs, blogs and discussion, introversion is slowly being accepted. What I hope is that introverts will no longer have to hide their nature and act like extroverts. This is something I have struggled with most of my life.
For the longest time I convinced myself I wasn’t introverted-I pushed myself in school, I did pr work for the football team at whittier college, I worked for president of the school, I worked at a labor union, I was a front desk agent at a hotel, I worked in politics and I also did telemarketing. Each of these jobs required me to be extroverted, to be the most vocal, outgoing person you could meet. The problem was that when I got home I was so drained and so depressed that my mental stability began to crumble.
To compensate, I started smoking weed and using pain killers because they provided me with the ability to become extroverted- to be able to make new friends, conduct presentations in front of hundreds of people, talk to random strangers and present myself as this alpha extrovert.
As you can most likely see, this did not end very well. In fact, it go so bad that I ended up in a psych ward/detox. I have finally realized that I am not an extrovert. It has taken me months upon months, to accept that fact. And what worries me, is that so many other introverts are going through same struggles.”
I hope this makes sense, I’m about to fall over from exhaustion. It might be 6:53am, but to me it’s my nighttime. In an effort to avoid contact with other people, I stay up all night and sleep during the day. I’ve been doing this for a few months now, and unfortunately I have become used to this schedule. Although I have made a lot of progress, I’m still scared to be around other people. It really drives me nuts because I hate being alone.
I hope you are all doing well,
Dave.
I have always been an introvert, I remember my school reports in high school always said things like “lacks self confidence” and teachers/other pupils seemed to think it was important to “bring me out of my shell”, I’m sorry but doing these things is excrutiating for a natural introvert especially at school.
Exactly! It just blows me away how we are treated because we don’t fit he extrovert mold. And it makes it worse because most introverts also suffer from low self-esteem, so the harder we are pushed the deeper we fall back into our protective mold. Hopefully with all of the attention that is now surrounding introversion, we can change the public’s perception.
dave.
Reblogged this on Type B Negative and commented:
I really like the care guidelines on this post, they should be on every managers’ office wall!