Continued from:
http://www.rsdnation.com/soochun-lin/blog/introverts-extroverts-gene-foo...

There’s approximately one third of people are introverts, which mean among every three persons, there’s one introvert and two extroverts. Introverts who are out-numbered and speak less than extroverts tend to be misunderstood, and many people do not know the differences between how introverts and extroverts “work” from the sciences and physiological point of view. Being more of an introvert myself in many aspects, understanding about how introverts “work” brought me useful benefit. I believe when extroverts begin to understand our differences and the sciences behind it, they’ll recognize some of the people around them such as friend, co-worker, family member or partner who might be introverts, know why some of them behave in certain ways, be able to deal better with introverts and have better relationships with them.

Introverts have more blood flow into their brain and they have more internal stimulation as compared to extroverts, said Dr. Laney and others. This makes introverts could not take so much external stimulation; contrary extroverts who have less internal stimulation tend to look out for external stimuli. When I talked to my friends, they said “Yes, I always want to switch on TV or radio to have some sound at home even when I’m not watching or listening to it” :D

For me who is more an introvert, a lot of times I rather have less noise, especially when my mind is “busy”. A lot of times I feel as if my inner side vibrates automatically which I can’t help and couldn’t stop having thoughts or feelings even when there’s nothing happening outside me. It is as if either there’s so much happening inside or whatever happens inside is at the high intensity level. Attending to all the internal stimulation constantly used up a lot of my energy. Handling external stimuli at the same time requires more energy, which made me tired when it is too much or for long hours.

As I said earlier my personality traits or their degree fluctuated throughout my life. When this introverted trait of mine is at the quite extreme end, I feel tired soon after interacting with people and I tend to avoid parties, crowded or noisy places. I also need more time to recharge than my extroverts friends, which resonates to what Dr. Laney has said.

When I socialize at one-on-one basis, I only need to spend my energy attending to the only person in front of me. When I socialize in a huge group or let’s say a party, my energy is automatically used in attending or “processing” all elements from the people and surrounding environment such as different individuals’ voices, facial reactions, responses or interactions, different smells from people, food or physical surrounding, different musical sounds and lightings from the environment etc. Those are a lot of external stimuli and eat up a large amount of energy.

Even though I enjoy the socializing or activities, it’s exhausting and I might leave earlier and back to my “cave” where there’s minimal external stimuli to revive myself, when the extroverted friends who yearn for more external stimuli continue to stay there, asking why or feeling disappointed about I’m leaving soon.

It can’t be helped since we both introverts and extroverts function in the different ways.

To put it in a metaphor, if I throw at you a 10-days works and ask you to finish the work within one day, despite whether you feel interested in that work, you might feel “it’s too much”, kind of overload or overwhelmed. If it’s not overwhelming, it’s exhausting. And you might feel you need a break.

Meeting a group of new people is more exhausting than meeting a group of my close friends. As I have been quite familiar with my close friends, I feel like I need less energy to “process” their reaction etc compare to strangers.

Perhaps it is because of introverts have more internal stimulation and need less external stimuli but contrary for extroverts, that makes me still feel comfortable with just being quiet when spending time with others, but some of my extrovert friends tend to feel uncomfortable if I’m being silent when we are together.

Do you tend to avoid or look out for external stimuli?
Do you get tired easily by being outside or around people?
Do you need a long or short time to rest and restore your energy?

To Be Continued...

For further reference: The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney