Make Space

I think that somewhere along the way being introverted became negative.  It's not exactly clear when this happened but it is exactly why there is such an emphasis on being extroverted.  I think there are a couple reasons why introverts are encouraged so strongly to be extroverts.  I know from personal group experience that people sometimes think that introverted individuals don't do any work because they are quieter.  I also think that people feel uncomfortable when they don't know what someone else is thinking and feeling.  Introverted people by definition deal with everything internally and extroverted people are "sketched" out when they don't know what is going on.  I think that introverted people bring stability to a group, simply by the nature of their being.  Because they are not always a part of the mayhem of a group they bring a sense of peace and balance.  I also think introverted people tend to create more well-thought out ideas, though they aren't necessarily given the space to express them.  I think if there aren't any introverted people the group can lose focus, as well as turn into more of a battle than a project, as each extrovert vies for the space to talk or give their idea.  It is interesting that this should be the blog topic because I have been doing a lot of reflection about this recently.  I very much identify with both introverts and extroverts and usually fall into the ambivert category on any sort of quiz.  But I find it difficult to leave space for people to talk in a group forum because the silence in that situation makes me uncomfortable.  But this exact discussion took place in one of my student orgs and we had members that identified more as introverts and they weren't feeling like they had been given the space they needed in our group.  Because of this they considered leaving the organization, and whenever someone is feeling suppressed like this is hinders the growth of the group as a whole.  Because these people weren't feeling "right" we never had their full involvement and we struggled to hold together.  This Ted Talk has probably been one of my favorites and I think it is something we all, especially myself, need to be more aware of.