Are an Introverted Multipotentialite?

THANK YOU for number 3! I get this a lot, and I have never heard anyone put it into words like that before.
People who do get to know me are always surprised at the “unconventional” interests I have, having made the assumption that I am conservative and boring simply because I can be quiet. I have to be honest and say that I find this incredibly frustrating at times!

Awesome post, Bev! My favorite myths are the last two. I’ve had many experiences when I just happened to divulge a more “unconventional” part of myself and I’ve actually been told that wasn’t/couldn’t be true! It’s funny how confident we are about who someone else is. 🙂 People are so complex and multi-faceted, it’s impossible to know someone 100%, I don’t even know myself! “It’s just that we don’t always shout about our quirks” really hit home for me.

Setting boundaries is a great skill to have in general but I would say that it is most crucial for introverts. Negative emotions such as shame and envy can really creep up if we don’t have the tools to know our needs and make arrangements for own self-care. To disappear to recharge (without guilt) when we need. It took me a long time to weigh the cost of oversocializing vs being authentic and being alone for a few nights and realized the second one was the best option for me. AND when I do what’s best for me FIRST, I’m more present and a much better human when I’m socializing anyway!

“Introverts are more likely to be thoughtful and highly self-aware” – exactly. That “inward looking” you describe has upped my ability to be compassionate considerably.
-M

I’ve just been thinking about this. To me my introversion and multipotentiality feel very much entwined and inseparable, but that’s because they are both part of me. But I was wondering what the trend might be in multis as a whole — whether we’re more likely to be one way or the other.

My introversion definitely informs my multipotentiality, or the way it expresses, because I definitely lean towards pursuits that are solo activities that I can become absorbed in (or obsessed with 😉 The downside comes when something I’m trying to do requires some networking or collaboration — I do like collaborating on creative things, but I’m always a little afraid to make that commitment.

I think there’s a lot of myths about extroverts too. Or, rather, different people using the word are talking about different things.

Somehow it has gotten popularized for being about social-ness. But Carl Jung defined extroversion as a preference in processing information. In the original theory, it doesn’t have to do with socializing at all. It has to do with whether you “process out loud” or “process internally” — whether you are oriented to your inner world, or to world outside you. Other people are only one element of the “outer world”, and intense socializing may just not be a part of the outer world you enjoy, even if you are primarily extroverted in the way you process information.

For example, people think of writing as an “introverted” activity because you do it alone. But it is actually an extroverted process, because you are putting your thoughts into external form. Meditating is an introverted process, writing is extroverted, but both are done alone.

My way of processing exactly matches ENFP’s processing order – Extroverted Intuition, Introverted Feeling, etc – but I’m not a typical “extrovert” the way our culture defines it. I spend most of my time alone and I hate socializing with people I don’t know (unless they are wildly interesting or easily accessible energetically). But I spend all day taking in information, researching, and learning about the world outside myself.

I don’t want to hang out all night at a party. But I do need to have some external way of processing in order to sort out what I’m thinking, and I do primarily take in information through Extroverted Intuition (which is the primary source of my multi-potentiality).

What I find irritating about small talk is actually the low fidelity of external stimulus–not that it is distracting me from my internal stimulus. I just find many (external) things far more interesting than a party. So it’s not that I find people overwhelmingly stimulating (as an introvert would), I find them underwhelmingly boring, and want more interesting stimulus. Also, ENFP’s need alone time to sort out all the external stimulus they take in, so they tend to need more solitary time than most other extroverted types.

Furthermore, everyone processes via both introverted and extroverted functions, it just depends on what order they are in.

I recommend taking the Myers-Briggs or other versions of the test, studying the function order of your type, and really understanding the theory better. It’s much more useful if you understand it in more depth.

Well, here is my perspective: I have more interests than I can count on both hands. And I am definitely an introvert. I thrive on “alone time.” How else would I fit all my interests in? 🙂 But seriously, I am exhausted by crowds and I find it difficult to create conversation just for its own sake

I enjoyed this article. My opinion is that introversion and multipotentiality are deeply connected, because introverts take time to immerse themselves into their soul, their creativity and curiosity and thus can develop more skills and more interests. Extroverts are often distracted with need to socialize.

I warmly recommend Susan Cain’s book “Quiet, the power of introverts in world that cannot stop talking.” It is one of the best resources about the introversion out there and it has deffinitelly broadened my horizons.

NOPE not at all, lol!

I’m a raging extravert, and so are almost all of my multipod friends. I always assumed there was something about extraversion that made us especially prone to draw ideas from every possible source around us, in the same way that we draw energy from the social environment. A lot of us are count performing, teaching and speaking/demonstrating in public as some of our highest passions (along with art, inventing, writing, etc). And if we couldn’t handle a large group we’d be licked.

I know a lot of extraverted multipotentialites, and others know a lot of introverted ones. Seems a lot like a roll of the dice/flip of the coin.

I think it stands to reason that there’s no real connection between multipotentiality and either introversion or extraversion. In fact I actually find it a little divisive to suggest that there is. It doesn’t do us a lick of good to associate labels with multipotentiality.

After all, isn’t that what it’s all about – rejecting all the labels so that we get to be *everything*?
I bet the most accurate thing is to say that multipotentialites are extraverted AND introverted – we all have the potential to be whatever we need to be based on the situation. That’s the whole point.

Hey everyone, I read this post and the comments days ago and I just wanted to say thank you. While I’m familiar with the discrimination many introverts face via the work of Susan Cain, I haven’t really thought about how much our biases against introversion have affected my career as a multipod.

My mom once said that she thought people like she and I were “born introverts, but forced ourselves to be extroverted because we wanted to fit in.” I remember the exact day that I decided to be “more social.”

Today I consider myself an ambivert, because I engage in careers/hobbies that are good for both types, however, I think that I wasn’t giving my introverted side the love she needs. Reading the things you’ve written and thinking about what it takes to be a happy multipod, I realize that I often didn’t honor my desire to be alone enough, and thus there are many projects and parts of myself that have not yet been expressed. While I’m not saying that we’re all extroverts, I do think that honoring all of our interests does require time. And being OK with your multipod self can be even harder when you haven’t accepted your introversion yet either!

This all being said, these comments have motivated me to give myself more down time. Thank you again!

Is introversion an inherited character trait? All the women in my maternal line are introverts (they don’t know it) to different degrees. My mom, my sister and I are very strong “social introverts”. People love to spend time with us, however, we are very picky about which social interactions we choose to “deal” with. Hands downs we prefer to be at home involved in our projects.
Just wondering…
Love to see all these many comments on such a great thread!

Hello. I am an introvert and a multipassionate. Nice to meet you! My favorite line in this blog post of truths is, “Quietness doesn’t to have to mean ‘boring’!” Amen, sister!

I am an introverted iconoclast, trilingual, published in two languages, a jazz pianist, avid birder, even an ex-nationally ranked track athlete –and other things. I never married, because the thought of the “settled” life always freaked me out. I will soon retire to Xalapa, Veracruz. It is good to read this. It is right on the money. As an introverted multipotentialite, I have met many like me. They are always EXACTLY as described here. As Giovanni says, we can be quite conversational — but we are not blabber-mouths! Our conversations tend toward substance, philosophy, humor — ot about what we just bought or what’s on the daily agendum. It’s frustrating to have introversion misinterpreted by extoverted socialites. OK I’m done. ciao

Introverted and a multipotentialite here too! I find most extroverts simply don’t understand that I’m not mad, sad, grumpy, shy or whatever label they think I need assigning lol
On the MP front, Ive had most people in my life assign me the label of loser or failure for my inability to “complete” task/projects/ect. Glad to see there’s most likeminded people — even if we are the quiet minority ????

I’m an introvert and multipotentialite. I’ve known I was an introvert for quite some time, but just learned about multipotentialites. I personally think they work well together for me. That’s why I Googled this topic and came across this post. I wanted to see if this was a common thread amongst multipotentialites and/or introverts because it works so well for me.