Closet Extrovert

I've always been rather fascinated by the way the mind works. One of the things this has led me to do is take a lot of personality tests. The most popular, or at least most famous is the Myers-Briggs. I usually test on the introvert side of the scale, sometimes, way on the introvert side of the scale, but occasionally I will actually test extrovert. A lot depends on the way the question ends up being phrased.

Anyway, I was looking at a list of the traits that make one an extrovert and compared them to the traits of an introvert, and came to the realization, that I'm a closet extrovert. Yep, I'm actually a wild and outgoing fellow, I'm just too shy to let anyone know. Besides crowds make me nervous.

Really I think that dividing people in half by extroversion and introversion is overly simplistic, especially because introverts are usually labeled as socially inept and extroverts as socially savvy when the opposite is often the case.

Speaking of social interaction... Recently I have been told I have a piercing gaze. That was a new one for me, but many people over the years have commented on the expressiveness of my eyes. The real reason I brought up the eyes, was because I'm realizing more and more that people don't see me the way I see myself. But then again, I often see myself in different ways depending on the situation.

As Otto von Bismarck once said, "With a gentleman, I am a gentleman and a half, with a scoundrel I am a scoundrel and a half." I try not to be a scoundrel, but I find that I end up becoming the person I'm talking to in some small ways. I've often found by the end of a conversation I'm using the person's idioms, I once even acquired an Irish accent.