Shy or introverted, these terms are used interchangeably, but should they? Because of recent studies, the differentiation between the two words has grown considerably.
Certainly, there are introverts that are shy, but we’ve all had the pleasure of meeting introverts that loved being around people.
We’ve also met extroverts that were terrified of being in front of an audience. Which are we REALLY?
We Are Introverted If:
- Being around people is exhausting, not nerve-wracking.
- We are silent because we’re on a mental tangent.
- Questions like, “How are you?” bore us out of our minds. We can answer them but we think it’s really pointless.
- We never come out of our room unless there’s a specific reason.
- We hate the airport.
- The best part of talking with friends is listening to their lives and gleaning information and lessons from them.
- We like talking, just not about stupid stuff.
- We come to the round table with ideas from the previous meeting.
- We don’t have an opinion unless we have time to really think about it.
- Talking to boys is easy if there's something deeper there.
We Are Shy If:
- We are anxious around people we don’t know.
- We are silent because we are scared of people’s reactions.
- Questions like, “How was your day?” freezes you up and even makes your palms sweaty.
- You want to come out of your room to talk, but you start shaking.
- We love passively watching people on trains.
- The best part about talking with friends is that the awkward phase is over, for the most part.
- We like talking, just not with people we don’t know.
- We never contribute to roundtable discussions unless we’re mentioned by name.
- There’s no point in stating our opinions because usually someone else has the same ones and we leave it to them to bring it up.
- Talking to boys makes us want to climb a tree.
Shy or introverted, there is a difference, but remember that neither is wrong or bad. Whether you are shy or introverted—there’s nothing to be ‘fixed’. Rock your shy or introverted status, babes.