Happiness In My Crib

When I was young, every kid in the neighborhood was my friend.  Oftentimes, we would hang out in our backyard playing stuff like tumba-lata, dakpanay, tsakay and tagu-taguan,  and would climb to every fruit tree there was. When I was 7, my family relocated and my friends and I got distant to one another.  

And as I was growing up, I was gradually discovering that happiness can also be experienced with less people around.

When we transferred to our new address, my closest neighbors were my only friends. During high school, the only friends I had were those inside the campus. When at home, I’d rather sit in front of the TV and watch MTV and my favorite anime than go out, hangout and meet friends.

It was then in college when I learned that I am an introvert. No, it’s not a disease or a health condition. In a nutshell, an introvert is someone who enjoys and finds happiness in solitude rather than in social encounters. He’s someone who’s comfortable being alone most of the time, spending it in his own creative ways. According to www.psychologytoday.com, introverts are oftentimes judged as shy and have social phobia. But in fact, they do socialize and tend to be “interpersonally connected than his or her outgoing counterparts.”

One summer vacation, my mom encouraged me to join a religious group so that I can also meet new friends. I was really hesitant but her persistence prevailed. I was in that group for 2 years, and I must say it was fun though having new friends. But for some reasons, I eventually left and went back to my crib.

In college, there were only three places I would “hang out” most of the time – boarding house, school and mall. Of course, I also made friends in college and we would hang out at each other’s boarding houses/dorms, too. When bored, I’d usually stroll at my favorite mall - looking at people, looking at stuff. No bars. No discos. No social life.

Now that I’m working, well, nothing has changed. I work remotely from the company’s office and my venues would be home, coffee shops and my own shop.  After shift, I’d watch my favorite American TV series and/or read manga (Japanese comics).  When not doing business, sometimes I’d hang out with a few friends from high school but oftentimes, I’d just stay at home – doing the stuff I do best. 

My mom would always say (and worry) that I’m so aloof, which is unhealthy for me. I’d just tell her that it’s not that bad and especially at this age, I have my preferences on the kind of people I deal with.

Being an introvert is not a personality “disorder”, but being too reserved and quiet is. Just like everything else, too much of something is bad. Having no acquaintances at all is just like putting yourself in a tightly enclosed box, not being able to reach out and to be reached out. That’s not living at all. “Man, by nature, is a social animal,” as Aristotle points out. Like it or not, we need people around us to survive.

However, for me, even outgoing people also have that “reserved” personality. I mean, who doesn’t want an escape from all the noise of modern life and take solitary moments once in a while? Sometimes we need to feed our souls with serenity to rediscover ourselves, to rediscover life.

At the end of the day, it’s not the type of personality you have that matters – whether you’re outgoing or reserved. Each of us is unique and we all have various ways in dealing with life. What’s important is that we get to enjoy and nurture each breathing moment given to us and be able to have a positive impact on other people’s lives.

PHOTO CREDITS:http://kelliehardin.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-be-introvert-with-extroverts-job.html