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IN A CONVERSATION with two psychoanalysts, I told them I had written an essay about being an introvert, which was published in The Washington Post. One analyst said to the other, “I don’t think there’s any such thing as an introvert,” and the other agreed: “No such thing.” That was in February 2007.
In the seven intervening years, the word has spread. Most credit is due to Susan Cain’s bestselling “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking,” and the TED talk she gave on the subject. Not sure where you fall in the camp between innies and outies? An August 2013 Huffington Post article, by Carolyn Gregoire, “23 Signs You’re Secretly an Introvert,” enumerates the ways you can tell the differences.
Just last week, BuzzFeed posted a graphic map of what every introvert’s brain looks like. Do you always come up with “really convincing excuses of why you can’t go to that thing?” Is there a “part of your brain that makes you look down at your phone when someone is walking in your direction?” Chances are good you’re an innie.
–Mary Carpenter