My first experience with public laundromats occurred in my early twenties, when I first moved to San Francisco. I had a strangely romantic idea about them at the time, that there was something grittily poetic about airing one’s dirty laundry in the company of strangers. It didn’t take long before I grew tired of the [...]

Since we raised our cat Zora from a kitten, we like to joke that she’s taken on some of our introverted personality quirks, like needing her quiet time, and hiding when guests come over. Of course, those behaviors may be de rigueur for cats (which is why we’re both cat people), but we still find [...]

A few months ago, Joe and I went out for dinner with a new friend, and throughout the meal he and Joe kept up a lively conversation, while I mostly listened. This was partly due to the fact that I wasn’t feeling well, but also because I felt I didn’t really have much to say [...]

I have a love-hate relationship with advice columns. I love them because they prove that other people out there have the same problems I do (albeit usually in a more extreme version), but I hate them because they make me feel like I’m rubbernecking at a crash scene, somehow getting comfort or enjoyment out of [...]

I’ve always resisted joining social networking sites like MySpace or Friendster because for the most part I enjoy my anonymity (present blog excepted). However, it seems like the universe has been conspiring lately to get me to join Facebook. Within the last few weeks, four friends, from completely different social circles, have extolled the benefits [...]

I think one of the most difficult aspects of being an introvert is dealing with those people in our lives who want us to become extroverts. I have experienced this phenomenon many times with individuals who I didn’t feel the need to impress or explain myself to, but the more challenging encounters have been those [...]

Some time ago I read a great article by Salon’s advice columnist Cary Tennis called The two-introvert problem (you may need to click through an ad to get to it). In the article Cary responds to a letter from a woman who is frustrated because she wants to invite a fellow introvert on a date, [...]

One of the writers I greatly admire (despite his seeming low opinion of women), the 16th century French essayist Michel de Montaigne, had a lot to say about the subject of friendship. His famous essay Of friendship describes the unique relationship he had with Étienne de la Boétie, a fellow writer he met while both [...]

One of the things I adore about Joe is that he always asks my opinion on every decision to be made. That may sound like a small thing, but for someone who is used to going with the flow, and thus living with whatever group decision gets made, this is actually a huge thing. My [...]

A few years ago I agreed to serve as the chair of a committee despite my usual reservations about assuming leadership roles. For me, being a leader has always been a double-edged sword; I enjoy the challenge, but it takes a lot of energy for me to be available and engaged in a group process. [...]

I recently wrote an article for Interesting Thing of the Day about Proxemics, the study of how people manage the space around them. This has obvious resonance for introverts, who often find interactions with people at a polite distance to be draining, let alone if those people are in even closer range.

In the article I [...]

A few weekends ago I found myself in the position of having invitations to two events in as many days, a somewhat unusual occurrence in my social life. I had been looking forward to these two outings all week, knowing that I might have a chance to catch up with some close friends on both [...]

Last month The Washington Post published an article by Mary Carpenter, titled An Introvert Stands Up for The Right to Stand Alone. In the article, Carpenter describes how she came to realize she was an introvert, and the effect this had on her family, work, and social interactions. I have to say it’s nice to [...]