I’m A Fake Extrovert
Have you ever felt the awkward air between you and the stranger sitting next to you in an airplane? Imagine you are on a three hours flight. You happen to sit next to an extroverted guy. He fills the three hours with banters and laughter. I admire him to death. When I am sitting in his seat and supposed to keep the stranger next to me laughing for three hours, I can manage for one hour at most. The rest of the flight will be filled with excruciating silence and forced smiles on my face.
Yes, I am a fake extrovert or a pseudo-extrovert. I guess they use the word “pseudo” because they think fake is too negative, which I don’t. Before we know who we are, we already know that we must be an extrovert to be popular. The loud kids are getting more candies. The creepy boys in school are getting more attention. In workplaces, promotion, teamwork, and the charismatic speaker shining on the stage, all drive us to the path of extroversion, whether you are an introvert or extrovert in the heart. For true extroverts, they reach the promised land. For some introverts like me on a three-hour flight, we fake it for some time, before being caught by the dead silence in the air. Damn.
The pain that comes with being a fake extrovert can be significant. Almost two decades ago, I was at the…
