Friday, April 16, 2010

Currently reading... Introvert Power by Laurie Helgoe

I am current reading the following book.  It's nice to have alone time at home and not feel guilty about it and this book focuses on why this is ok and shouldn't be looked down upon, but should be embraced and used to focus on building your own inner strength.  So far it's a good read, I'll let you know my thoughts once completed.  Did I mention how much I love the library?  Hit up your local library or go ahead and pick this one up from Amazon, I highly recommend it.

3 comments:

Nadon said...

As I've made it through the intro and the first chapter, I'm finding that the book uses "her" quite a bit as a view point for the female population reading the book. The author calls out that more than half of the current population are introverts, so I guess I wasn't necessarily expecting that it would be liking reading it from just a woman's viewpoint.

With that out of the way, the author quotes Emerson (rapidly becoming a favorite of mine) and Carl Jung when explaining the benefit one finds from solitude as outward society may look on it as a bad thing.

So far so good.

The first chapter gets the assumptions out of the way and explains that some may see introverted people as being snobs, or anti-social or asocial, but in fact, there are just times when the introvert needs that quiet time. In the hustle and bustle of today's world that can be sometimes hard to find while out in social situations.

Nadon said...

After getting a few more chapters into the book, the author now seems to be switching on the view point between male and female and all is well.

Nadon said...

Here is my full review of this fantastic book!

I really enjoyed this book. I had been wondering if something was wrong with me, I wasn't enjoying time spent in social gatherings, friends and people that I wanted to be more than friends were questioning why I was the "way I am". I didn't have a great answer. I've had self esteem issues, so I looked for help there in readings that helped me create a positive self concept. When done with those it was time to tackle this feeling of not liking society, and why that was a feeling I was having more and more. This book helped me discover that I wasn't weird, I just had introverted tendencies. I prefer quality time with fewer people over large gatherings which would just "take energy from me". Page after page, I felt like I was reading a book that was describing me to a tee! Enjoying quiet time, reflection, meditation, and my creative side that lived inside. There were even a couple parts that shocked me a bit, for example the thought that my room is "my space" and that the living room is for extroverts. It's so true. I have a three bedroom house, and when I'm here alone, I'm in my room 98% of the time. I used to do this when I was younger too, so it shocks me that it's not until I am 36 yrs old that I come to realize that this is ok and that I'm not crazy. :) This book also pinned me pretty well as the person that gets to the party and starts planning an exit route within the first hour. This is so true and any of my friends that have been witnesses to my disappearing acts can attest that this is how I am. It's not that I dislike the people at the party - not at all! I love them, but the fact that there will be very little personal interaction with them makes the event less worth of my time. I would rather have a cup of coffee with any of them, one on one, and really talk, and have an exchange that is valuable to us both! Can you tell this book has helped me understand who I am? It has and I highly recommend it to anyone - introvert or extrovert, as it explains that we all have both of these traits in us, this book helps you understand the introvert side and how to to let it thrive!