The Social Antisocial

Being an introvert makes life…interesting. I value my personal time, My hobbies are my passion, and I have a hard time enjoying new activities that I didn’t decide to pursue.

Simultaneously, I love spending my personal time with others, meeting people with similar hobbies, and discovering things that I normally wouldn't have thought to try.

Another paradoxical part of me is how my personal space fluctuates. Depending on the situation and the people involved, I can either have no bubble whatsoever and love physical contact, or absolutely despise having people near me. I developed a curious tick when I was younger. Having people that I don't implicitly trust standing behind me makes me physically uncomfortable, to the point where I will shiver and have to turn to at least see them in my peripheral vision. My best guess is that it came from many years of being beat up, and I can't shake it now.

Anyway, being socially antisocial is something I've come to realize a lot of people I know also feel. It's the need to be around people, to know that you're not alone. It's simultaneously the need to not have people interact with you, to have them leave you to your thoughts. Sometimes this also involves being left physically alone, other times it requires immense amounts of cuddling. If you learn how to read the small signs in these odd people, you can make their lives much better. You'll know when to give them a hug, a light touch on the shoulder, or when to sit next to them, a foot away, on the opposite side of the room. It varies, sorry, people aren't an exact science (no matter how much I would love them to be sometimes).

One thing to take away from this as well is to find out if you are a physical contact type of person. There are more of us out there than you think, and we really want you to hug us. There's literally nothing sexual in it unless you want there to be, but we really want that skin contact. 

A lifelong book

Reading subtle texts

Each twist and turn portraying an idea

Each twist and turn hiding an emotion

Easily shown

Easily misread

The mass of information is overwhelming

To learn to read

An invaluable skill

To finish just one takes a lifetime

A face makes for the greatest book

Toodles!