We’ve most all heard the definition of extraversion as “receiving energy from others” and introversion as “receiving energy from oneself”. A few personality quizzes also expunge that a person can fall on either side, often a binary number. You are either an introvert or an extravert. I’d argue that while that is true, humans don’t always fall into a dualistic narrative. We’re much more multi-faceted than that, and there are a few key criteria that we can consider for this definition.
- Who you are around
- What you are around
- Why you are around
These three things can be guiding principles to unlock the code of why at any given moment a person can be on a sliding scale between introversion and extraversion.
Let’s say you are around new people that you have not yet become comfortable with, and compare that to a friend of 20 years that you get a long with at all times, and can practically read each other’s minds.
In a situation like that, the barrier to taking or giving energy is minimal, and scant exists.
When you are with other people, especially at a networking conference, there may be other factors at play. We dive deeper into the “what”.
Assuming you are at a certain location, and what you are around is unfamiliar. It might be a hotel, or a large field with a music stage surrounded by 10,000 people. In this situation, a person’s energy, and scale of how open they are to receive the energy of others, or give their own is severely impacted.
I’d argue that in this case, the extraverts find that such a crowd of people is the perfect opportunity to express themselves without worry. For an introvert, as long as you can protect your own bubble of energy, or sphere of spearation, you’ll find yourself faring equally well. It’s truly the “what” you are being surrounded by. Assume you can surrounded by the “who” of close friends. The “what” can be the deciding factor.
Lastly we have the “why”. At any given moment, our brain sends hundreds of thousands of electric signals. We can’t obviously parse through them all, but the feelings, thoughts, and emotions that rise to the top can be a strong indicator of how an introvert or extravert feels in any given situation. However, the beauty of this is that we can choose to focus our minds at any given time on what we’d like to. It doesn’t always work, but at that moment, the shift in balance on the scale of introversion and extraversion can be influenced.
Thus, the who, what, and why a person does what they are doing can be a defining space of how they are interacting with the world at any given moment. This can apply to your friendships, relationships, communities, and dreams.