Thanks to Andrea for telling me about the article “Caring for Your Introvert,” by Jonathan Rauch, published in March of 2003 in The Atlantic, a major North American magazine whose target audience is “thought leaders” and whose tag line is “Think. Again.”
Rauch is funny and perceptive. His message of empowerment is basically the same as Highly Sensitive Power’s: “sensitive” and “different” are qualities worth being proud of.
The response to Rauch’s article was an avalanche of mail. The article has continued to be one of the most popular articles on The Atlantic‘s website. So popular, in fact, that a few years after the article was published, Sage Stossel interviewed Rauch for The Atlantic in February 2006: “Introverts of the World, Unite!“
“The Introversy Continues” shares reader responses to a question, posed by Rausch: “In looking for a mate, are introverts better off pairing up with extroverts or fellow introverts?”
Our challenge, as introverts, is finding each other. Johathan and Andrea show us how.
“Actually, my favorite line is from Waiting for Godot. I can quote it to you exactly: “Don’t talk to me. Don’t speak to me. Stay with me.”
~ Jonathan Rauch
“If we introverts ran the world, it would no doubt be a calmer, saner, more peaceful sort of place. As [fellow introvert Calvin] Coolidge is supposed to have said, ‘Don’t you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?'”
~ Jonathan Rauch
Related reading: The Power of Community — Learning from Geeks and Queers,
Laughing in Our Human Suits
6 Comments
Well, the truly funny thing about this is I had no idea this article was from 2003! For some reason it floated to the top of my list the other day and I read it and thought, “Oh, how perfect for Grace.”
Well, I’m off to read the article! Thanks Andrea *and* Grace for letting me know about it.
I love the advice to sit down and keep still — how many contremps in our lives would be non-existent or smaller if more folks did that? Lovely!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Reading this post and the article brought back an incident with my son’s camp counselor. She sought us out at Parents’ Night to inform us (as if we’d never noticed) “Your boy is so QUIET!” and then asked, “Is he okay?” Yeah, we all are. All three of us are introverts and we’re just fine. Later I overheard my son telling a friend on the phone that he didn’t want to go to a party “because I’m an introvert…that means I don’t get my energy from crowds.” The boy has lots of friends, and, thankfully, a strong sense of who he is apart from them. It’s nice to have a space like this where thoughtfulness is not odd. Thanks.
You’re welcome, Teresa.
Thank heavens your son has you. I love it that he feels sure enough of himself that different is only different, not worse or better, when it comes to things like being quiet and attending parties or not. And he’s helping to educate others by being so open about it. Hallelujah!
Ive always thought it was strange what i liked, peace and quiet to think . i only thought like this because it was the general concensus when i told people what i like, i like being alone, i dont always need to be doing something. Funny , after going to a physic for the first time i felt a little violated , thats because she could enter my mind and knew my thoughts , that was my world and she was coming in and looking through all my files , i invited her but was unaware of the feeling i would have afterwards. Good to know we have a group to belong to. interested to know what careers are best suited to us, seems people are everywhere and its hard if your not a people person.
Hi, Kane. I’m glad you found something here that helped you in some way to maybe feel more comfortable with you as yourself. As for works that suits us, I’ve found that something to do with Internet — and there are lots of possibilities — gives me the ability to manage my interactions in a way that feels good, and to have connections without having to go in to a workplace and deal with all of that additional interaction. I do enjoy interacting in person! I just like not HAVING to do it.