I’m introverted and perfectly happy with the way I am.
I like my own level of introversion very much. I suppose that you would call me an “extroverted introvert” – I like people fine, they provide me with a lot of amusement. But social interaction does wear me out, so I then need some “me” time.
People tend to mistakenly conflate shyness with introversion; I have never been shy.
And when I am around people, I am not “the quiet one”, either.
It is a good combination of “I don’t need people around me to have a good time” and “I am not so introverted that I absolutely have to be alone all the time”. Good mix of characteristics!
I wish I was less shy, but not less introverted. Introversion is fine by itself, but mixed with extreme shyness, it is a lonely world.
I’m not shy at all; I have no trouble talking to almost anyone or public speaking, and people who don’t completely know me are surprised when I say I’m an introvert. (No, I don’t go around telling everyone this, but if it comes up they are surprised because I don’t seem like one most of the time.) I need a lot of alone time, though, and for the most part my social life is as active as I want it to be–which most of the time, is pretty active. I do too many by-myself fun things to want to be an extrovert. Imagine always wanting people around you! Ew. I suppose some extroverts don’t want people around all the time, but many of the ones I know do and seem sort of lost and uncomfortable when they’re by themselves.
Oh, definitely. I think being introverted has negatively impacted my life; especially in the career area (it’s one factor in my not having a career, I believe).
I’m very okay with not getting out more in my personal life. I go out to a bar with a buddy of mine three or four times a month and that’s about good for me. The rest of the time I like quiet.
Being able to flip the extrovert switch at work when I need to go do customer training or sales presentations would be great, though. As it is, I soldier through, but I always need a shower after work those days because of the flop sweat.
I’m quite happy as an introvert most of the time. But there are occasions where being an extrovert would make my life a lot easier.
The most recent example to come to mind are grad school interviews. These typically involved several one-on-one interviews with faculty, lots of social gatherings with current grad students, and parties with the department. Some of these lasted three days, and I was completely drained socially somewhere midway. Which is rough when half the purpose of the interviews is to try to impress people, and for the last few events I could barely handle smiling and nodding at the edge of a crowd.
Starving Artist, “being charged up being around other people” is the defining aspect of extroversion. Introversion is absolutely not the same as being shy (and extroverts can be shy, too).
Your misconception is really super common, though. Many think “extrovert == bubbly, chatty, life of the party” and “introvert == shy, socially awkward and super quiet”. At my old job, I had started just a bit after everyone had done an (HR mandated) Myers Briggs test. Since I was in IT, it wasn’t surprising that most of my co-workers were on the I end of the scale. But they flat out refused to believe I’m an introvert, too. Hey, introverts can be chatty and obnoxious, too! 
I enjoy spending time with friends, I’m great at small talk/chit chat, I can make people feel at ease and comfortable. But even if I’m spending time with my extremely close friends I only get to see ~twice a year, I reach my limit and I will start to literally shut down socially because, as an introvert, I find social interactions draining instead of energizing. This is even when I’ve been enjoying the entire time with my friends. I need to be alone at that point so I can just relax and recharge.
So even with great friends, I reach a “people” limit. It’s usually about 12 hours for them, but with casual acquaintances, it’s much shorter (and mostly strangers, shorter still).
Eh, I do enjoy occasional large social events, I just get worn out by them after a few hours and need to recharge by myself for the next few days. And I do enjoy smaller social gatherings with close friends. But pursuing such things is draining, so I end up staying in by myself unless someone invites me out. That was a lot easier in high school and college where there was an automatic peer group to start from.
Now I’m something like a Real Grownup, I’ve moved across the country from most of the people I know, so I don’t get out as much as I’d like. That also means I miss out on a lot of novelty that I previously got by being dragged to things I’d never go to on my own.
But most of the time I’m happy to stay in and introvert with my SO.
I didn’t vote because I don’t really fit any option. I am, by turns, both an introvert and an extrovert. Unfortunately I can’t make the desired side show up on command.
I know how wonderful both can be and it’s darn annoying when there is something I really want to enjoy doing and I’m in the wrong frame of reference and I just struggle through what would otherwise be a joy. This is equally true of social events and quiet relaxing evenings at home.
I accept and like my introversion, and make no apologies about it other people, either. But every so often, I push myself to be sociable because I realize people are important to my overall health and happiness.
I don’t consider myself at an advantage to extroverts, though. There are pluses and minuses for both ways of being; society probably would suffer if everyone was one way or the other. My ideal mate probably is a extrovert with introverted tendencies. I’m afraid if I get paired up with another introvert (especially a homebody like me), we’d become social hermits, holed up in our little homey refuge together like hobbits.
Yes, with all my heart. 
So true, so true. And for a talkative introvert or a shy extrovert, their lives are that much more difficult because they confuse people.
I’m not talkative or social, but I am sociable. Like, because I have a sense of humor and serve as a good sounding board, people will often come into my office to do the chatty thing. Which really isn’t my thing, but I just chalk it up to the tax I have to pay for having a good job and just deal with it. But what happens is, because I appear social in those moments, people will invite me to parties or to “hang out” or a variety of activities I don’t want to do. Or they will do the chit-chat thing way much more than I am comfortable with, exposing way TMI about themselves. Often I wish I could come across as more introverted than I do, just to ward off people. I try to keep the door to my office ajar rather than wide open, but the moment I slip up, they start to file in and gabbering away about nonsense. 
Poor shy extroverts. They want to hang out with people and make friends, but they are held back by self-consciousness. And people probably give them a wide berth because they come across as quiet and socially awkward, thinking they prefer their solitude. I don’t understand it how it feels to be a shy extrovert, but I imagine their situation is just as frustrating as wishing people would go away.
It’s really complicated. I’m deeply introvert by nature… but as soon as I came out, I threw myself into a period of highly extroverted activity for over 5 years. My health circumstances finally put the brakes on that last year. Since then, my basic introversion has reasserted itself with a vengeance. Over Memorial Day weekend, though, I participated in a highly charged gathering of LGBT people, many of whom are dear friends, so I felt couldn’t miss it. It went great and we all shared tons of love, but the sudden overload of my unused social circuits from relating face to face with a very energetic crowd of awesome people was very challenging for me, even stressful, and ultimately draining. Even though I love those folks and they love me, all of them at once was too much for me.
Anyway, I want to be more involved that way again someday… but I’m just not up to it these days. So it’s complicated.
I just want people to understand that introversion is not misanthropy at all. I love to be friends with and on good terms with people, and they’re always telling me what a nice personality I have. My supervisor while I was doing Census interviews last year was emphatic about that, always telling me I have a great ability to deal with people and get them to like me. Introversion means that even though I have good people skills, I’m just not up to doing a lot of it. So that’s one important skill missing from my people skills that interferes with performance-- I lack the stamina to keep at it for long.
It’s complicated because as much as I want to relate to people, I crave my times of solitude like I crave oxygen.
I wonder if there are extroverts that wish they could be more introverted?
Of course there are. It’s the grass is greener syndrome. The question is, “How many extroverts wish they could be more introverted?”