Is something wrong with me? Why am I so different? Why can't I be more outgoing like everyone else?
These are the kind of troubling, alienating, seemingly unanswerable questions every introvert living in Nigeria has silently contemplated at some point in his or her life. For the introvert, contemporary Nigerian society appears to be a pernicious environment carefully designed to torture and isolate people with their personality traits.

The internal despair and psychological distress emanating from constant self critique and self-hate makes up half of the punishment imposed upon the introvert by the uneven hands of nature. Popular narrative within society compounds the introvert's dilemma and further exacerbates his predicament. Introverts are told from a very young age that their personality is an anomaly that they need to change. They are usually advised to be more outgoing and more sociable. To stop spending time alone and spend more time around people. This sort of admonishing arrives in two forms.The introverts who are lucky get early spates of this creed from well meaning relatives who present their diagnosis carefully and constructively, so as not to injure the tender heart of their reticent loved one. The ones who are unlucky receive theirs from bullies who demean and make fun of them for who they are. As the introvert gets older, these haunting statements become reinforced by their experiences. They begin to realize that exhibiting introverted traits presents no social benefits, giving the social dynamics existent within their society that operate in a way that favours extroversion over introversion. Some try their best to adopt extroverted traits to supplant their natural behaviors, others who can't, lapse into depression or become misanthropes; hating the world and everyone in it.

I decided to write this piece to inform introverts about the lies they have been made to believe. This writeup aims to challenge existing erroneous views and conceptions about introversion from a very unique angle.

Why does an introvert need to change? Change, especially in this context, is an alteration to conform to an existing framework. So, for change to happen, there must be a direction such change needs to follow in other to arrive at a destination. And such movement is controlled by whatever initiates that change. In the case of introversion, change is initiated and controlled by the extrovert majority. The only reason an introvert needs to change is to conform to an environment that is regulated by the actions of the extrovert majority.

It's obvious that one of the reasons why Nigeria isn't moving forward is because we prioritize things of less value and stigmatize things of greater value.
A solid inviolable truth is that when the intellectual resources of a society is neglected, the society regresses. Every great development in every society has been founded upon ideas. Ideas are the vehicles that drive change. And ideas are constructed in the minds of people, and the group of people who make up a disproportionate number of the creators of ideas of lasting value, are the so called Introverts.

Believe it or not, the wealth of a country's intellectual resources are domiciled in the minds of it's introvert population. You don't agree with me? I'll prove it to you.

There have been lots of proffesional tests that have been carried out that have proven introversion to be directly correlated with high lQs. The more introverted a person is, the more intelligent the person is likely to be. The same goes for extroversion, which has been strongly correlated with low IQs. You still have doubts? Take the east Asians as an example. Lots of intelligence tests have been carried out that have proven them to be the race with the highest IQs. Studying the lifestyles of the Chinese or the Japanese, one would notice that they live very introverted lifestyles. Majority of east Asian population are introverted, confirming the claim of the positive correlation between introversion and high intelligence. Does anyone still have doubts? The next point should clear any doubt. Majority of the geniuses that have shaped our history and expedited the progress of our human species are Introverts. I am referring to the scientists, philosophers, thinkers and writers. All this validates the fact that the intellectual resources needed to move a society forward rests within the introvert population. If the introverts are indeed the smartest people, why then are they being oppressed by the intellectually inferior majority? Does anyone see a problem here?

Of course extroverts aren't without their own natural talents. Evidently extroverts appear to densely populate fields like entertainment, fashion and sports. These areas are useful, but not as useful as areas of science, technology, economics and politics that require the intellectual gifts of introverts. This is a hard truth to swallow, but it's the truth. Introverts make better critical thinkers and the better the quality of thought, the greater the quality of ideas. And ideas lead to reform and revolution.

So why then are we forcing introverts to change? Why are we creating environments that inhibit the materialization of the talents of introverts? How can we prioritize mindless talk, noisiness, overexcited gesticulation and restlessness over creating a conducive environment for creativity and ideas to emerge and flourish?

Anyone is free to contribute.

Trudax:
Anyone is free to contribute.

Lol. What do you want them to contribute?

99.8% of the people who will enter this thread will not read more than the first 3 lines...

Arsenalholic1:
Lol. What do you want them to contribute?

99.8% of the people who will enter this thread will not read more than the first 3 lines...

Well that's sad. If this is true then its a clear testament to the fact that Nigeria has no future. If its youths can't read an ordinary writeup, how can they read books? If they can't read books, how will they be informed? If Nigerian youths aren't informed then its leaders of tomorrow wouldn't be informed. If its so called leaders of tomorrow aren't informed beyond celebrity news and gossip, then the future of this country is doomed.

Shame!

Trudax:


Well that's sad. If this is true then its a clear testament to the fact that Nigeria has no future. If its youths can't read an ordinary writeup, how can they read books? If they can't read books, how will they be informed? If Nigerian youths aren't informed then its leaders of tomorrow wouldn't be informed. If its so called leaders of tomorrow aren't informed beyond celebrity news and gossip, then the future of this country is doomed.

Shame!

You're kinda spot on.

The average Naija youth cares not about leadership. They (or we) are more interested in making it in life -- I.e being able to fend for ourselves and loved ones.

It has become a problem though. It's the reason why there's a massive surge in cyber crime, ritual killings, drug peddling etc amongst Nigerian youths.

You see the FP of NL? Flooded with celebrity news and gossip, because that's what people are more interested in.

I'll advice that you don't slam anyone for their choice. Do what you know is right for you and the future will tell if you were right or not.

Aloha

Arsenalholic1:
You're kinda spot on.

The average Naija youth cares not about leadership. They (or we) are more interested in making it in life -- I.e being able to fend for ourselves and loved ones.

It has become a problem though. It's the reason why there's a massive surge in cyber crime, ritual killings, drug peddling etc amongst Nigerian youths.

You see the FP of NL? Flooded with celebrity news and gossip, because that's what people are more interested in.

I'll advice that you don't slam anyone for their choice. Do what you know is right for you and the future will tell if you were right or not.

Aloha

Well, one can easily predict the future by looking at the past. History has shown that attitudes like the ones our youths are showing would lead to the downfall of our country and the inevitable immiseration of the lives of everyone in it.

Flashinglights you have been on the thread since. Don't you have anything to contribute? Don't you know any introverts? Are you an extrovert and you don't agree with my views?

U are very correct. I didnt pass de second line

Arsenalholic1:
Lol. What do you want them to contribute?

99.8% of the people who will enter this thread will not read more than the first 3 lines...

There's a lot of depth in this write up.

Our society is a very aggressive one and to be candid survival depends on what level of aggression we can transmit. This doesn't mean that we have to stop being introverted but as introverts we need to be firm so as prevent others from feeling they can walk all over us.

People tend to condemn what they don't understand and honestly we don't owe anyone an explanation for being the way we are. Yes, sometimes we feel bad or down or whatever but when we realize the indescribable strength and talents that we have as introverts and come to love ourselves the way we are, then we'll realize that we also have a place to perform great exploits in our society and that introversion isn't a bad thing.

On the other side people need to realize that there's a difference between being slow and being introverted because some people are in the habit of classifying them together.

Trudax:
Flashinglights you have been on the thread since. Don't you have anything to contribute? Don't you know any introverts? Are you an extrovert and you don't agree with my views?

Lol, I've said something

flashinglights:


Lol, I've said something

Excellent.

proudly introvert with less dominant extrovert qualities

flashinglights:
There's a lot of depth in this write up.

Our society is a very aggressive one and to be candid survival depends on what level of aggression we can transmit. This doesn't mean that we have to stop being introverted but as introverts we need to be firm so as prevent others from feeling they can walk all over us.

People tend to condemn what they don't understand and honestly we don't owe anyone an explanation for being the way we are. Yes, sometimes we feel bad or down or whatever but when we realize the indescribable strength and talents that we have as introverts and come to love ourselves the way we are, then we'll realize that we also have a place to perform great exploits in our society and that introversion isn't a bad thing.

On the other side people need to realize that there's a difference between being slow and being introverted because some people are in the habit of classifying them together.

In response to your last paragraph. People also have the habit of assuming the opposite for extroverts. But that's often not the case.

Yeah, that's so true.

Trudax:
Why does an introvert need to change? Change, especially in this context, is an alteration to conform to an existing framework. So, for change to happen, there must be a direction such change needs to follow in other to arrive at a destination. And such movement is controlled by whatever initiates that change. In the case of introversion, change is initiated and controlled by the extrovert majority. The only reason an introvert needs to change is to conform to an environment that is regulated by the actions of the extrovert majority.

It's obvious that one of the reasons why Nigeria isn't moving forward is because we prioritize things of less value and stigmatize things of greater value.
A solid inviolable truth is that when the intellectual resources of a society is neglected, the society regresses. Every great development in every society has been founded upon ideas. Ideas are the vehicles that drive change. And ideas are constructed in the minds of people, and the group of people who make up a disproportionate number of the creators of ideas of lasting value, are the so called Introverts.

Believe it or not, the wealth of a country's intellectual resources are domiciled in the minds of it's introvert population. You don't agree with me? I'll prove it to you.

There have been lots of proffesional tests that have been carried out that have proven introversion to be directly correlated with high lQs. The more introverted a person is, the more intelligent the person is likely to be. The same goes for extroversion, which has been strongly correlated with low IQs. You still have doubts? Take the east Asians as an example. Lots of intelligence tests have been carried out that have proven them to be the race with the highest IQs. Studying the lifestyles of the Chinese or the Japanese, one would notice that they live very introverted lifestyles. Majority of east Asian population are introverted, confirming the claim of the positive correlation between introversion and high intelligence. Does anyone still have doubts? The next point should clear any doubt. Majority of the geniuses that have shaped our history and expedited the progress of our human species are Introverts. I am referring to the scientists, philosophers, thinkers and writers. All this validates the fact that the intellectual resources needed to move a society forward rests within the introvert population. If the introverts are indeed the smartest people, why then are they being oppressed by the intellectually inferior majority? Does anyone see a problem here?

Of course extroverts aren't without their own natural talents. Evidently extroverts appear to densely populate fields like entertainment, fashion and sports. These areas are useful, but not as useful as areas of science, technology, economics and politics that require the intellectual gifts of introverts. This is a hard truth to swallow, but it's the truth. Introverts make better critical thinkers and the better the quality of thought, the greater the quality of ideas. And ideas lead to reform and revolution.

So why then are we forcing introverts to change? Why are we creating environments that inhibit the materialization of the talents of introverts? How can we prioritize mindless talk, noisiness, overexcited gesticulation and restlessness over creating a conducive environment for creativity and ideas to emerge and flourish?

My guy, most times, many of us get the wrong perception (or accept the wrong perception others have) regarding our nature.

Most times, people misinterprete introversion as boring, uneventful and/or unexciting when it's definitely not true. An introvert does not talk about anything but give him a reason to talk about a topic and you'll be amazed that the talk about it never ends, he gives you different reasons why the topic should stay alive.

An introvert has so much strength in his own companion (he is always energetic for any task whenever he is alone or amidst people who don't talk too much, who are engrossed with something) but he always naturally gets exhausted amidst someone or people who are always talking (or causing event) just unlike the extrovert who finds so much joy and strength in every little event and tends to join them.

When an average introvert and extrovert attend a gathering that is not a social one without briefing, the introvert gets interested in the meeting because the atmosphere is calm and conducive for his brain to assimilate every event going on and he can flow with the meeting for as long as it lasts but the extrovert will, few minutes into the meeting, become greatly bored because it slows down (dulls) his brain BUT
When both of them attend a social gathering, say party, the extrovert will remain very active for as long as the party lasts because the event is in sync with his brain while the introvert will be hissing every now and then because his brain has not digested the immediate past major event and another one is showing up thereby causing his brain to be out of sync with the event thus causing him great tiredness.

We are always so calculative that we always take our time to analyse everything that should be of interest inside out before contributing and that's why whenever we come into any argument (or should I say, any analytic conversation) that is going on between extroverts, side comments like 'he has come','problem has joined', and others come up because most times, our reasons for our stand beats theirs hands down.
When in school or in the 'hood and my friends (we all know that there are more extroverts than our likes) are discoursing, I rarely contribute but I flow with it through body cues and answer rhetorical questions asked during the conversation in my mind but in a case of blind argument, I sometimes come in after the argument has lingered unnecessarily long. I don't just come in for argument's sake but for clarification so that the noise that emanates dies down for me to regain the lost strength.

Most introverts at least once in a lifetime desperately wished that he is an extrovert due to a sad/unfriendly event witnessed but it's not our fault that we are unique. I once felt like dying, like I'm cursed by being an introvert because there was something that I loved so so much and always loved being around it, I never told the owner how much I cherished it though I let my feelings towards it show but never told him, I woke up one day to hear that it was sold and I felt as if dying would be better for days. The guy was so surprised at me seeing how frustrated I looked but could do nothing because it is very difficult to bring it back. I felt like dying completely when he asked why I didn't tell him all those while it was around. Out of frustration I asked pretty silly questions why I am an introvert and the answers that I got helped me appreciate who I am; that I am unique. (N.B: This story was edited for personal reason)

Extroverts seem to be all over the news and all over the place because their nature demands recognition hence they are more comfortable in the sports, fashion and entertainment industry just as you said while the introverts are more comfortable in the 'indoor' logical/thinking industry. It's just like the body and the engine of a car.
The extroverts are the body (beauty) of the car and the introverts are the engine (heart) of a car. They are meant to compliment not compare each other.

The extroverts keeps us smiling (entertaining) while the introverts keeps us going (inventing).

It is often awry said that introverts are less of philanthropists than the extroverts. Introverts care so much, love so much and help so much but they prefer not ringing bells about it because they wouldn't like to respond to every mr and mrs that praises his good deeds on his way as it is always so tiring for them.

If you ever manage to become friends/lovers with an average introvert who considers you one, dear you'll definitely feel so special because even if there are thousands of reasons to leave you, there's always one reason to stay by you because, to them, a bird at hand is worth more than a million in the bush while to an average extrovert, there are many fishes in the ocean.

No one needs to change for the other but needs to appreciate and accomodate the other because it keeps the world balanced.

Being an introvert is best for an introvert while being an extrovert is best for an extrovert.

Nice points @UJIC