Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
Some of you will know that I am studying for an OU degree in my spare time, and the area I am looking at currently is the function of groups and how people operate within those groups. Although I have focused on sporting situations, there are all sorts of times that being part of a group comes into our lives, at work and educationally.
When at school and college I always dreaded it if the teacher/lecturers introduced group work. Later in life I discovered that one of the reasons for this was that I was more of an introvert than an extrovert. I always felt I couldn’t and didn't want to contribute. It isn’t just about confidence, its about how I worked best ... I preferred
to be quiet, thinking, giving myself time to process my thoughts, my answers, analysing information, researching. I didn’t like the noise, the debate, the pressure I felt from others within a group.
But for those who are more extrovert, being part of a group is energy building, motivational, a time for sharing opinions, views, just being with other people feeds the soul.
This will have been observed over the last year in lockdown, particularly if you’ve been involved in homeschooling, some children may have actually blossomed, as perhaps opportunities to work in a more isolated environment has been more suitable and conducive to their learning, this may be due to those children being more introvert than
extrovert.
I have observed this in my online classes. I have seen movement and strength improving and progressing over the last year. I have received feedback from some saying how much more flexible, how much stronger they feel, but also how much more they achieve than when attending face to face classes. Obviously the regularity of participating in more
sessions will have contributed towards this, but it will also have something to do with working within your own environment, giving you more time to process the movement and feel your body, being more comfortable to try progressions of exercises that you may not have felt comfortable trying in a group situation, being an introvert.
I think being an introvert or an extrovert isn’t about only operating within those identified boundaries, it is about feeling you have the safe space that you can go to. As an introvert you need to be able to function in groups but be confident you can retreat to your own space when you need, and this is the same for extroverts — you need to be able to
function on your own, but feel confident that you can be with your groups when you need to be. Those of you who are extroverts will probably have struggled the most with lockdown, those of you who are introverts have probably found lockdown not too bad.
Introvert or extrovert, lockdown has taught us lots — whether isolation brings us energy and lifts us, or whether we need to surround ourselves with people in order to function.
