Listening to CBC today, and the various stories about how people are handling isolation, it left me feeling grateful for being who I am: an introvert who enjoys my own company and perfectly content to spends days on my own.
Aside of those with genuine concerns as a result of their health, family or work situation (which I have total empathy for), it was those who simply don't know what to do with themselves home along for long stretches that got my attention.
Beyond that, it was the ones that were feeling traumatized that interested me. Really? I don't say that in a sarcastic way, I say it in a "oh, so some people are really torn apart to be alone?". As in learning, and having my eyes opened. It was a comment by an extrovert that made the penny drop. I know that extroverts get their energy from others, but I don't think I'd understood how distressful it can be just to be alone for long stretches.
But perhaps I can understand, from the other side, as an introvert who just spent 10 years living with others and I almost lost my mind. If I don't spend copious amounts of time alone, I can't think, and I don't know who I am. I have no energy and I become desperate. Same thing, other side?
Anyways, I do not mind days at home alone. Having lived alone for 30 years, it's a common way of being for me, and I'm perfectly content. Since (finally) having my own place again, the days at home since December have been bliss.
Yes, I do like to do stuff, and not having access to coffee shops, and arts, and so on, is certainly missed, but it's not upsetting. Just think of the money I'll save!
Right now I have my headphones on, listening to jazz, with my feet up, and sun bouncing off the windows of the hotel across the street. Trying to decide which book I'll turn to after this, a historical novel set in Egypt in the 20's (a library score), or the Audible memoir of a woman who fell for a fake man. Wish I had more library books, but there is no lack of reading material here on my bursting bookshelves. And Audible is endless in terms of content.
I am quite happily living without TV, especially in current circumstances. CBC Radio One gives me pretty well all I need, without endless visuals of masks and hazmat suits to haunt me. Podcasts and online content fill in the rest. I'm actually not big into social media at the moment, but it's there if I need it. I've only recently been taking advantage of my Prime Video, maybe watching an hour or two most evenings, as distraction.
Then, there's silence.
Anyways... was curious as to whether other introverts feel the same. And if I was truly in isolation for weeks perhaps I'd feel differently, but I don't think so. Good thing, and I feel grateful that I am so well positioned to whether this storm.
It leaves me lots of room to learn about how others are coping without it overwhelming me.
And having this ah ha moment about how hard others are finding this is one such learning.
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