Struggles of Being an Ambivert

You may categorize humans into two groups -- those who choose to spend their typical Friday nights by partying with their friends, meet up with tinder dates, or go out with colleagues following their business meetings, or those who stay home and either watch a new Netflix show, sing their favourite song to their goldfish, or take a nap.

As Friday nights are known to be a time to de-stress and have fun, the main difference between these two people is where they derive their energy from. Although both are enjoying themselves, their methods to recharge greatly differ. For example, extroverts, who comprise up to seventy-four percent of the population, enjoy meeting new people, group work, and openly communicating their feelings through words. Furthermore, they are typically outgoing, action-oriented, and talkative. To put oneself in their shoes, they tend to feel isolated when they are alone. Thus, whether it’s family, friends, or peers, their spirits are lifted after surrounding themselves with people.

On the other hand, introverts take pleasure in being alone and are more reserved when interacting with others. Despite making up only around twenty-six percent of the world, introverts are exceptionally self-aware, drawn to independent activities, and prefer to have a smaller group of friends. Due to the fact that these two are practically polar opposites, the majority particularly resonate with one more than the other. However, a small percentage of people identify as ambiverts. Living a Hannah Montana scenario, ambiverts switch and share qualities of both personality types, endlessly facing struggles of their own that the rest of the world is oblivious to.

As an ambivert, several characteristics of theirs are a combination of those that extroverts and introverts possess. Although many of the traits found in extroverts and introverts are positive on their own and suit their needs, they become an issue when they overlap in an ambivert because they have to seek a balance in social settings. For example, an ambivert looks forward to meeting and speaking with new people like extroverts, but similar to introverts, they are not the best at keeping up with small talk. As a result, they value rich conversations with loved ones instead. This can, therefore, prompt an awkward situation for an ambivert because engaging in small talk would be trivial and may not show the best version of the ambivert, based on first impressions. On the contrary, very few people would be open to sharing personal details about themselves right off the bat to a stranger. Consequently, it leads the ambivert to feel conflicted as for how to act and come across to new people. Another example of how maintaining a balance is difficult for an ambivert is their desire to collaborate and learn from others, but also being able to work more efficiently when independent. Thus, the ambivert must weigh out the pros and cons of each decision.

In a nutshell, an ambivert is presented with a variety of problems in social environments that extroverts and introverts do not have to worry about. Nonetheless, being an ambivert definitely has its benefits such as being flexible, well-liked, and finds it easy to adapt to new situations. In addition, they are the bridge between extroverts and introverts, learning how to be empathetic and understand the ways that both people interact.

Lili Yao

2019 Spring Issue