Text, Don’t Call – An Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life
We are living in a fast paced and hectic world. Every day there seems to be an event we need to attend, a situation we need to voice our opinion about and we’re expected to participate in e-ve-ry-thing. Sigh…exhausting isn’t it? Some of us do not want to participate, at all. And it is not because we are shy or antisocial. It is because we are an introvert. This ‘Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life’ provides great advice how to tap into the strengths of your trait.
Introvert
If you’re an introvert you are not wrong or weird, at least a third of our population is introverted. And if we look at the people who are highly sensitive, 70% of them are introverted. There are so many others, like you and me, who enjoy quiet surroundings, who love to be by themselves and don’t want to answer their phone all the time.
But in this overstimulating world we live in, it seems that extroverted is the norm we all should live by and that everyone else needs to adapt and change. Let me tell you, that is not necessary! Research (Susan Cain) showed us that being introverted has many advantages and as a society we need to encourage and celebrate the talents that come with it. As you can hear in Susan’s TED talk.
From my own personal experience I know how important it is to read and learn about your trait. It helps you to understand your behavior and this will make your life more fun and it will make you a lot happier.
I’ve come to know about INFJoe’s cartoons through Instagram. I was drawn to his funny and insightful drawings, they perfectly embody how my life as an introvert is. His cartoons are now available in a book called ‘Text Don’t Call – An Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life’.
It is a book filled with great advice and insights how to be your introverted self in a extroverted world. It shows you how to survive the holidays and crowded parties. Why it’s necessary to have some time to yourself when you feel ‘peopled out’. How you can navigate the workplace and why open floor plans don’t work for you.
Introverted life
The main difference between being introverted and extroverted is how we direct our energy and the way we recharge. Extroverted people love to spend time with others and they need these moments and stimulation to recharge. Introverted people are not so keen on spending a lot of time with others, they need solitude to recharge and they direct their energy inwards.
As introverts we love to spend time alone. We have a rich inner life where we reflect and dream and come up with great ideas. We use this alone time to process our day and to recharge. Preferably somewhere quiet, or at least surrounded by soothing sounds.
Large gatherings are not our thing. There are just too many people and too many different noises. Afterwards we’ll feel drained and we know we need a lot of alone time to regain our sanity. When given the chance, we will avoid going altogether and rather stay at home. We love to meet other people, but please can it be one-on-one? And somewhere quiet?
It’s not always that obvious, but we do love humans. We love having real and in-depth conversations and are great listeners. It’s the small talk and superfluous encounters that we dislike. It’s because we want to know the real you. Rude and disrespectful behavior are turn-offs and usually we will walk away.
When we are at work, we are at work. Serious and focused and not available for small talk. We came here to work, duh! We do understand that colleagues and social gatherings are part of the deal, but they’re somewhat out of our comfort zone and we need some encouragement and extra time to initiate steps in that direction.
So you see, we are not shy or antisocial or weird. We’re just introverts. And that is okay!
Text Don’t Call
What a great book. I couldn’t help but laugh page after page. So many times I thought to myself, ‘yep that’s me, that’s exactly what I do’. The cartoons are very good in showing how it feels to be introverted. And together with the accompanying words you learn not only what it means to be an introvert, but also how you can tap into the strengths.
It’s great to be an introvert, and going with the flow of our natural preferences makes all the difference in the world
Text, Don’t Call is drawn and written by INFJoe (Aaron Caycedo-Kimura). INFJ is one of the psychological types from the Myers-Briggs personality test. Psychological types were described by Carl Jung. This test makes the types understandable and useful in our lives. There are sixteen types and they are a combination of:
Extraversion (E) and Introversion (I), Sensing (S) and Intuition (N), Thinking (T) and Feeling (F), Judging (J) and Perceiving (P)
Please also check out INFJoe’s Instagram or Facebook for more cartoons and inspiration.
