Life has been so busy lately... I feel like I'm back in college during those times I'd have back to back classes, meetings, work, appointments, and things to do on my own in between, and where I have to time things exactly, like my workout can be just from 5:20 to 6:05, so I can be at the next place when I said I would, etc. I am managing fine and getting most everything done in my personal and professional matters, but I can feel the drain. I am capable of strict time management, but not a lover of it. I like being busy... life feels strange when I'm not, but doing does not energize me as it does some.
For example, my friend Jon... he is currently working from about 8:30-3 every weekday in a commercial real estate office, and then between 4-5 heads off to his job at a restaurant until midnight or after. On Saturdays he works again at the restaurant. He has done this at other times in his life, and is doing it now just to get a running start financially after finishing college. I think that I literally could not do that. I don't think I would be able to make it through two days of this, and if I did, I think the most I could give at each job would be like 25%. He is looking forward to a couple month from now when "life isn't as crazy"... I am just in awe that he's living through it. Same with my friend Meg, who works like 80 hours a week during tax season, and this year studied for a CPA exam at least 15 hours a week on top of that for the last month of the season. Both of these friends have a good attitude, and whenever I've seen Meg she's been upbeat and ready for it to slow down but still able to give it her all. I would keel over after a couple days of living in her shoes as well. Mary is the same way... her life is more like mine has been lately, only that's how she goes throughout the entire year. She does more in a day than anyone I know... phone calls, appointments, exercise, pick up her daughter, drop off some furniture at a property, errands for her business and her husband's... I have never known her to spend an entire day relaxing, she is always moving, doing projects, planning, repainting some wall, etc. It's quite inspiring and intimidating at the same time.
Sometimes I think I'm just lazy compared to these people. And that may be partially true... but I've realized in the past couple years that the main difference between me and people like Jon, Meg, and Mary is that they are strongly extraverted, and I am not. They get tired from extremely long days, but the activity and the doing energizes them for more. One phone conversation will pump them up for another. The more things Mary can fit in before bedtime, the happier she is. Jon may be tired late at night but he gets a kick out of talking to and serving people. I ignore my phone a lot, talking on the phone drains me at times. Don't know that I've ever personally seen Meg or Mary ignore theirs. They don't love people any more than I do, they just get energized by the interaction.
The difference in people coming from whether they are extraverted or introverted certainly varies, and its definitely not that all extraverts are like those friends of mine or that introverts are like me. How much you like doing things as opposed to reflecting on them also has to do with whether you prefer S or N, or J or P. But the reason Jon, Meg, and Mary are like they are is greatly because the outside world energizes them.
The world takes all sorts to spin 'round... thank goodness.
(from my most trusted site...)
Extraversion and Introversion
When we talk about "extraversion" and "introversion", we are distinguishing between the two worlds in which all of us live. There is a world inside ourselves, and a world outside ourselves. When we are dealing with the world outside of ourself, we are "extraverting". When we are inside our own minds, we are "introverting".
We are extraverting when we:
Talk to other people
Listen to what someone is saying
Cook dinner, or make a cup of coffee
Work on a car
We are introverting when we:
Read a book
Think about what we want to say or do
Are aware of how we feel
Think through a problem so that we understand it
Within the context of personality typing, the important distinction is which world we live in more often. Do we define our life's direction externally or internally? Which world gives us our energy, and which do we perhaps find draining?
3 comments:
thank you-- you made me feel better about often igoring my phone and getting overwhelmed when i'm going through a schedule like yours. Being busy makes me crazy.
Aaahh....this helps me understand myself a little better. Also, this trait of yours is another one you get from me! :-] Thanks for writing about this....it's a good reminder not to compare myself to the people who seem to be able to cover so much more ground and accomplish much more in a day.
I remember reading through this post quickly on the day you posted this- 3 days before my exam, and only a week after tax season finished. At that point, I was at a breaking point of exhaustion, thinking that I hated being as busy as I was. You're right- I always answer my phone and the busy-ness in my life energizes me. Last week was an exception- I can't stand saying "no" to things in my life and I hate being too busy and exhausted that I can't get energy from anything. I can't WAIT to pass all four parts!!!!
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