Being the Introvert in a Extrovert Family

I was born into a family of primarily extroverted people. Life was interesting that way and somewhat stressful on me, the introvert.

I love peace and quiet and I do not depend on other people's companionship to survive. The less people I have to see in a day, the better. My mom, grandma, sister, and brother are not like that at all, they need that human interaction. In a lot of ways I was forced to be more outgoing than I actually am.

Growing up saying my family was involved would be a gross understatement. We were super involved in everything from sports, to church, to school, and to clubs. We were constantly on the move. Growing up I spent more time at church and with other kids than I did at home with my own siblings. Stressful is one way to describe it. I would much rather be alone with a book than surrounded by others. Surrounded by others is how I would describe my childhood. I did learn somethings by growing up the introvert in an extrovert family. I learned to be more outgoing for one and to care more about others. It also helped me learn to be aware of others.

As the introvert many times my need for quiet was ignored and I was pulled along with the rest of the family to go to the next activity. I thank my family for this because it has helped me to deal with stress a lot better than I might have otherwise. I am still the quiet and reserved one of the group, but I have learned to put myself out there and get to know others because of my families outgoing approach to life.