My Social and Non Social Life

It’s Friday night. I am sitting on the couch in my sweats watching Pulp Fiction, drinking lavender tea. I am exhausted from the week of school and have looked forward to shutting my brain off for the night. My sister calls me from Seattle, checking in on me and asking what I’m doing tonight. Watching Netflix of course! Her response is “oh! You are not going out and hanging with your friends?”

Why do we expect that college students “need” to go out to have a good time? I am perfectly content being alone. It’s not that I don’t love being with a group of people, such as dancing around the house and being the stereotypical 21-year-old. I love that, but not all the time. Unlike my sister who needs company 24/7, I am very satisfied being on my own on a Friday night. Or how about eating alone during lunch? Last week, I had my headphones in listening to The XX and my friend came over and looked extremely worried. “Why are you eating alone? Go sit other there with everyone else!” But I enjoy eating alone sometimes. I’m extremely busy during the week and it’s nice to have time to myself. It’s my way of recharging.  

Many people believe I’m an extrovert because I can be loud and outgoing. Although here’s a secret, I am an ambivert; meaning I share both introvert and extrovert qualities. An extrovert is someone who gains energy in their environment by socializing with people. An introvert finds this incredibly draining and is perfectly content being by themselves in a quiet area. There seems to be limited knowledge of the brain activity of an ambivert because it falls in the middle of the spectrum. You can read constant articles about how ambierts love balance and that they gain energy in multiple and different ways. Apparently ambiverts are the top candidates for being a salesman. They are social beings therefore have great people’s skills, yet are not overbearing and can read people very well because they understand different personality types. 

Being an ambivert, I would advise people, especially college students, to not let the stigma of staying in on Friday night be looked down upon. There is nothing wrong with doing what makes you happy and content. But that’s the great thing about being an ambivert, many different types of hobbies sound appealing! I can be around a large number of people at an event, or I will want to sit down in a coffee shop and read my favorite book.