The 21st century has no respect for introverts. With its selfies and social media exhibitionism, it has a disregard for introspection. The 21st century is preoccupied with charisma, teamwork, expression, stage confidence, charm and other things.
I saw this clearly, when in my third year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, I listened, with contained anger, to a lecturer tell a girl who had answered a question quietly - and correctly - that the world had no place for quiet people.
Introversion isn't the inability to properly express oneself or the lack of social skills. It is the natural tendency to internalise thoughts, opinions and reactions. The introvert isn't alone because solitude is sexy or because she has a core of arrogant detachment. She is that way because of her mind; because being alone or in small groups is pleasant to her and without strain.
As an introvert myself, I have been called "arrogant" and "selective". The first, I try to ignore. The second I find particularly amusing. Biko, who isn't selective.
In my third year (that year seems filled with moments like this), a classmate told me to join "the guys to play football". When I asked why, his reply was painfully cliche, "You too dey form". I told him I would join them to play for 90 minutes if he would join me to analyze the "thematic relevance of a Latin text".
His response? "Wetin concern me with Latin abeg?". Mine? "Wetin concern me with Football abeg". Amusingly, there was no Latin text to analyze. His reply, however, showed me something: people hardly ever examine themselves with the effort they put into examining others.
About two months into my service in Umuahia, Abia state, a fellow Corps member would tell me, "I hope you're not an introvert. They are very difficult people". And that is the truth. Introverts are difficult people but they aren't difficult because they are introverts. No. They are difficult because they are humans. And no human, no matter how they try to be, is simple. However, this girl who thought herself "not difficult" would ask me five, invasive questions about myself. Each one coming before I could answer the one before.
If you're an introvert, there's nothing wrong with you. You have a right to be reserved, to create your own space and hide there or go wild there. You have a right to lose yourself in the different worlds a book can create or to even prefer a club to a library. Simply put, your instincts are inherently yours and you have nothing to be ashamed of.
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