Personally I thought about my childhood when I read the first
portion of "Quiet". Growing up I would have considered my Mom
an introvert and my Dad the extreme opposite extrovert. Mom did not work much
outside the home. She raised three daughters and of course too great care of my
Dad. After all he never had to mop a floor, cook a meal or change a diaper. He
just went to work and came home to a perfectly clean house and dinner on the
table. Growing up in my house was a bit "leave it Beaver".
One thing that I used to think was that I
did not ever want to be like my Mom in regards to her social ability. She did
not go anywhere or have a social life. She didn't even like to make phone
calls. She was perfectly content if she did not have any contact with anyone
outside our immediate family.
Dad on the other hand had lots of friends.
He was always taking chances and having fun. He would go out after work once in
a while with friends and do all of the stuff extroverts do. Once in a while he
would come home and tell Mom he quit his job that day. He was never worried
because he knew he would have another just as good if not better the following
day. This drove her crazy.
I feel like I am definitely an
ambivert. The questions on page 13 and 14 in the book confirmed this. I love to
have fun and am very social. I do well in group settings since I am not afraid
to express my opinions. I do not feel comfortable taking chances to the extreme
that my Dad did but I will go out on a limb way further than my Mom. She wouldn't even climb the tree. I am not afraid to try new things but will begin with some
amount of caution.
I value what I have been taught from both my parents and have
adapted the introvert and extrovert parts of their personality into my own
personality. Well I didn't choose this, it just happened but this is me!
Extrovert is that me ??
ReplyDeleteAll my family members are extroverts or at least I thought. Growing up my father had a ton of friends that came over every weekend. My mother worked a day job, but still had a decent amount of friends. There was one problem; my father was an alcoholic who was only an extrovert when he had some drinks into his system. Who I thought my father was, well was not really the truth. A little down the road my parents spilt up, because my father couldn’t stop drinking and fighting with my mother. Now that you have a little understanding about my background, let’s move on to my personality. I took after my mother as an extrovert. I could hold a conversation with just about anyone. To be honest its really nice at times because growing up I never had trouble making new friends. People that new me best said I was going to grow up and be a minister. I feel as with being an extrovert has its downs to it. I am a very upfront person. If I don’t like what is being said or done, I lend my professional opinion. I always stay positive, but I am a truth teller and some people don’t like that. Being an extrovert has really helped me excel in my career as a police officer, because ninety fiver percent of that job is being able to communicate with people. When it comes to writing , it’s going to be hard for me to write out of my convert zone , but I guess that’s why I am in this class.
First I am really sorry that you grew up with an ill Dad. That must have been very difficult. I can Identify with you about being honest and saying what you feel. I do this as well and I do agree it may not always be everyone's favorite approach. It has also helped me professionally. I became a Nursing Director for 2 very busy inpatient mental health and substance abuse units. I often had to address certain behaviors and if I could not be direct and honest I would not have been a good manager. Thanks for sharing your story!
ReplyDeleteLike your father, mine is extremely extrovert as well. One would think he was the mayor of the town due to all of the people who know him. Your mother reminds me of my friend who was homeschooled until the eighth grade. She did not know anyone but her sisters. When she first began public school she was socially awkward. Nothing against homeschooled people, but I feel that most of them lack the social skills that kids in public schools acquire. By the time we graduated high school, my friend had gone through a complete change. She went from and introvert to an extrovert. She was the treasure of the FFA club and had no problem giving reports and talking to new people. It was kind of neat to see her do a 180.
ReplyDeleteOur family dynamic seems to have been very similar growing up. It also looks like some other commenters have been in the same situation. By the way, I appreciate you telling us all of that personal information. My mother to this day has not killed a fly. She is the most innocent, kind-hearted woman on this planet. She raised me herself for the majority of my life. With that considered, it's funny to think about how that has impacted my personality. I do truly care about people, but I have more of a backbone than she does. Perhaps it is a blend of my dad's personality and my mom's too. Who knows, but here I am!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the name of your post. As I was reading the first part of it, it reminded me of how I grew up too. My Mom was a stay at home Mom and took her job very seriously. She was very good at it as well. Our house was very clean and neat she took great pride of taking care of six children and my father. My Dad was a elementary school principle who coached three sports to support our large family. He had chances to be around large groups of people more frequently than my Mom did. So when myself and siblings were grown and on our own, she became sad. So, I push myself to try new things even though it is hard and anxiety producing. Most of the time I push myself I am glad I did!
ReplyDeleteI like that you went back to your childhood. I can relate to some of things you mentioned. My mom is a little more social than yours by the sounds of it, but I still lived in a very leave it to beaver setting as you mentioned. I can relate to how you said you want to be different from your mom in certain aspects. My moms a really giving person and always wants to help even if she doesn't know these people personally. But one thing that sometimes happens is people walk all over her and take advantage of her. I'm guilty of this but I'm getting better at speaking up and sticking up for myself because of what I've seen my mother go through. Hopefully me doing that can break my mom from it too.
ReplyDelete