The Explanation Extroverts Owe Introverts

I asked Jack, a regular author at Disability Diaries, for his opinion on extroverts and introverts. This is what he had to say:

 

Image Text is as Follows: I think extroverts are good within reason, bring an introvert primarily after being around them for while I get cranky and annoyed. Introverts like quiet and solitude. they value having time alone to recharge so to speak. Most of if not all of my close friends are introverts. You may use these for your blog.

Dear Introverts:

 

First of all, I'd like to apologize on behalf of every member of extrovert-kind that you have ever met and will meet. As an extrovert, I understand that I can come off too strong. Extroverts like stimulation and interaction and, though an extrovert can survive without these things, they need them to thrive as much as introverts need quiet and solitude. We get cranky and annoyed if insufficiently stimulated just as you might when overstimulated.

We extroverts get that introverts need time alone to recharge and can respect that. However, extroverts need others to recharge and we demand an equal amount of respect for our needs. There is a noticeable imbalance between introvert content and extrovert content on the Internet and that in and of itself is not a bad thing, but very little material under #extrovert is written for extroverts and even less of it is written by people who openly identify as extroverted.

The extroverts you meet are rarely intentionally out to annoy introverts. They just take social events as an opportunity to recharge and need you to fill their battery, so to speak. Many extroverts feel guilty about recharging in different ways from introverts and fear being dismissed as shallow and attention-seeking. Extroverts keep their energy reserves on the surface. We do not have infinite energy; we just keep our energy reserves on the surface rather than at our core. The extrovert that comes off too strongly may actually just be tired and need to recharge.

There are also different varieties of extroversion. Sanguine extroversion is represented the most often. Extroverts of the sanguine variety are the "party animals" and the perpetual movers. Sanguine extroverts are the outgoing, fun extroverts that love any excuse to put on a show. Choleric extroversion manifests itself as a need for control. Choleric extroverts are not represented as extroverts as often as sanguine extroverts are. They are generally  more industrious and resolute than sanguine extroverts.Though the choleric sometimes does not socialize, cholerics are indeed extroverts. After all, a choleric can't rise above the heads of a crowd of one.

I understand that extroverts can have an overwhelming presence, but the need to replenish own energies, rather than the intent to drain others' energies, lies behind the flashy exterior. We extroverts are tired of having our needs dismissed and that will increase our "annoying" factor. Sufficiently-"fed" extroverts are balanced, charismatic leaders that will consider the needs of others no matter what their social -version is. "Starving" extroverts are desperate and attention-seeking to the point where they have little care for the needs of others whether they are introverted or extroverted.

We don't really intend to be annoying or make you cranky. We just need the energy interactions give us. We also need your support and loyalty despite how irksome we can be when we are running low on emotional energy, not just "within reason" and when we are sufficiently fueled. Remarks like these hurt extroverts more deeply than you realize, especially sanguine extroverts. Extroverts, though we supposedly "have all the advantages in life" and "have the world made for us," also have needs that are just as valid as those of introverts. I hope you will take this into account when dealing with "annoying" extroverts.

Yours Truly,

The Official Extrovert Ambassador (Self-Appointed)

FlutistPride