Sir, – I have thoroughly enjoyed Padraig O'Morain's recent Health + Family articles on introverts ("Do you experience 'introvert hangovers'?", September 5th; "So you are an introvert? That's okay", September 20th).
Between newspaper columns, thoughtful illustrations shared online and blog posts, it’s safe to say that if there was ever a mass misunderstanding of introverts, the right steps have been taken to address it.
Does your columnist have any advice for those of us who struggle with being extroverts?
I have trouble thinking things through unless I have someone to bounce ideas off; I speak before I think; my voice is naturally a decibel louder than most of my peers, louder when I’m excited, which is embarrassing; and sometimes even when I know I should stop talking, I can’t. It gets really loud inside my brain when I need to share something with someone and I can’t.
These traits are often mistaken for confidence, when the opposite might be the case. Perhaps that’s why there is so much sympathy for introverts, who are often wrongly perceived as shy, and none at all it seems for us extroverts, despite the challenges we face. – Yours, etc,
KATIE HARRINGTON,
Dublin 12.