Monday, January 29, 2007

All by myself...

The womenfolk of Wayfarer House were away this weekend. They went to visit Nana and stay overnight. Wifeness does this for me every few months so I can have focused time for graduate school. I can get a lot of work done at night, after the house has gone to bed, but it takes a toll after a while. This time gives me the chance to reset my biorhythms and actually clear my head of the 10,000 chattering monkeys so I can get some real work done.

This got me to thinking about another contradiction about myself. I am a solitary person and greatly value my time alone, but I absolutely love it when the house is full of people. One of the reasons I work late at night (apart from the fact that it’s the only time I have in quantity) is the solitude. The house is quiet and I can get my dose of what a child I know once called “lonely time”. Yet, I don’t feel right if I’m not surrounded by people regularly, either. They don’t have to be people I know. I absolutely love going to the coffee shop downtown to mingle with people, wandering the mall (especially on days like Black Friday) or being in airports. Of course, it’s also really nice to be around people I know and love. I feel a wonderful sense of peace sitting in my classroom when it’s full of students, going out to movies with lots of people and doing New Year’s Eve at our house every year.

Which are you? Are you a lone wolf, or are you sociable? One of the best tests I’ve every taken on this topic is the Jung typology test. It covers more than introversion/extroversion, but it’s fairly accurate for me. If you’d like to take an online version of the test, [click here].

3 comments:

Trina said...

Interesting post! I am the same. I find that I go to bed late every night because I need the time by myself to just breathe when everyone else is asleep. Especially with working in the evening, I love to unwind with reading or writing. Sometimes scrapbooking and occasionally watching TV. I also love socializing and have some regular activities scheduled weekly. Nothing beats my alone time, though. It's worth it, even though I have a horrible time getting up in the morning. :)

Wayfarer said...

I have trouble getting up early, too, when I stay up late, but I really enjoy doing it when I can. There's something about that time of day with a cup of coffee sitting on the porch that is just sublime.

Kizz said...

I am an alone person. An only child who's really glad of it. I get undone if I have to spend too much time with a lot of people.