Introvert /ˈɪntrəvəːt/ - A person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things.
The content of this blog post is solely my personal opinion based on my own experience.
Being an introvert might be quite tough in a loud world with a society with certain expectations. I'm writing this post, because most of the non-introverts jump to conclusions, misunderstand and wrongly judge introverts, because they simply don't realize why someone is behaving as he is.
Here are some facts about introverts:
They like their own company. So much, that sometimes they choose to stay home over going out for a meeting. And that's ok. They like diving into their own interests all by themselves every now and then, but it doesn't mean that they lack interest in a friend.
Prefer to work solo. They are usually accused of not being oh-so-popular team players, but what others don't know is that they are much more efficient and their best thinking occurs when they have time to themselves.
They rather sit quietly and let others take the stage. Not because they have nothing to say, but because they prefer to keep their opinions to themselves. That's because they don't feel the need of sharing their thoughts or they feel uncomfortable speaking in front of some people.
They prevent any social contact in public, especially with strangers. Not because they are impolite, but because it's a torture for them to do it. They are dealing with crowds on a daily basis by separating themselves with headphones or with something to read.
They avoid angry and upset people, mostly because they are extremely sensitive and prefer to stay away from negative encounters, which they see as threat.
They hate phone calls. If an introvert doesn't pick up your call a couple of times, that's because his pulse is rising the moment he/she hears his phone to such a state that he/she is close to having a panic attack - that's nothing against you, it's solely due to the fact that they are suddenly pulled out of their comfort zone and are confronted with something, that they are supposed to respond to immediately. I suggest texting instead.
They rather search for an item in a store for 20 minutes by themselves instead of asking the salesperson for help. Again, not because they have anything against the salesperson, but because every contact with a stranger results in a huge amount of stress.
Introverts are quite often just shy, not arrogant. Trying to understand how the other person feels is always better than judging straight away!