Are You an Introvert or Shy?

Introversion & Shyness are commonly mistaken as being the same. They may seem to be the same but they aren't. An introvert enjoys time being alone and gets drained after spending a lot of time with a group of people. On the other hand, a shy person doesn’t necessarily want to be alone but is afraid to interact with others. Shyness involves having negative or limiting beliefs that result in fear of being judged, whereas introversion is becoming over-stimulated or over-whelmed and requiring time to be alone for energy recharge.

Consider this example, John & Sam are invited to a party, John prefers to stay at home and work on his reading or writing and spend quality time all by himself, whereas Sam wants to go to the party but is afraid of the crowd and the unknown group of people who will be there and hence stays back at home.

Now, do you relate to the above either by yourself or the people who are known to you?

Now just imagine how this impacts your life and career. Introverts and Shy people are often perceived as anti-social, reserved, laid back, uninteresting, boring, and so on. And because of this perception of others, you may end up losing a lot of opportunities in relationships, career, and business.

Shyness can be overcome with either therapy or confidence-building activities, but not so for introverts. Now not all Introverts are shy, some have excellent social skills.

Research in 2011 by psychologists Jennifer Grimes, Jonathan Cheek & Julie Norem broke introversion into 4 main types. Social Introverts, Thinking Introverts, Anxious Introverts & Restrained Introverts.

While shyness can be addressed with therapy, trying to turn an introvert into an extrovert can cause stress and lead to self-esteem problems. Introverts can learn strategies to cope with social situations and can take the help of mentors or coaches, but they will remain introverts as it is a personality trait.

So in order to find your freedom and enjoy social success, figure out if you are an Introvert or Shy. Once identified, work on overcoming the shyness if that is the case, or work with your strengths with strategies if you identify as an Introvert.