Ms. Personality

I'm reading Chapter 9 of Quiet, where the author asks some very valid questions (valid because I asked the very same questions.) She asks if it even makes sense to chart the differences between extroverts and introverts. She asks if the very notion of introversion/extroversion is too pat a dichotomy. "Aren't we all a little of both?", she asks. She speaks in the beginning of the chapter about situational traits. She offers this thought: "There is no core self; there are only various selves of Situations X, Y and Z." I think I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. Sometimes when I am at a party, I am absorbing in conversation and charming. Other times when I am at a party, I just wish I were invisible so I wouldn't have to talk. Sometimes when I am home alone, I go for a long, solitary walk, or just sit for hours with my journal and a good book. Other times, I will go for a long walk, right to the closest coffee shop, where I will converse with any friendly face I see. Not only do I have personal examples of differing situational traits, but every one I talk to is an introvert except in some situations or unless so-and-so happens. Of course, I talk to extroverts, too, but they are only extroverted in certain scenarios. I'm sure you'll find this, too, if you ask anyone if they are introverted or extroverted. I can almost guarantee they will qualify their tendency with an "except when" or an "unless" or "if I'm comfortable." So, as of right now, my conclusion is that there are no conclusions. We are what we need to be when we need to be that, or whenever we feel like it.