I consider myself, present day, to be an extrovert. I guess, you could call me a converted introvert. Growing up until the end of elementary school, I was on the end of "extreme introvert" spectrum. I was a pretty shy kid. In relating to people, to loud noises, my family and friends closest to me would confirm that 100% I was an introvert.
Moving on to junior high school and high school, I made more of a conscious effort to make friends and talk to people. I remember giving myself a sort of inner pep-talk of sorts before my first class began. I awkwardly introduced myself to a few people in class - two of whom would later become two of my best friends in junior high school (Thank you Amanda and Rachel!) The same thing happened in senior high school. In homeroom, I told myself,
"Self, you can DO this! Say hello, introduce yourself and ask what their names are."
I did that - and again, met one of my best friends in high school (take a bow Ms. Jenny L!).
I think a lot about life and life experiences is putting yourself out there. Now, I will be the first to admit that "putting yourself out there" doesn't exactly translate - for me - to just saying okay, and jumping out of a plane. For some, it is baby steps, others, it can be a moment of inner turmoil and inner coaching, and for others, it is almost as literal as jumping out of the plane.
That being said about myself, I can pretty much talk and carry on a conversation with just about anyone. Derick brought this up this weekend, and said,
"I haven't meet anyone who cannot carry on a conversation with you or who does not like you."
Now, that might not be quite true. I am positive that there are people out there who don't like me for one reason or another. I am sure that you could remember my story about Claire, and I imagine she for sure would be on that list.
Okay, I realize that I haven't really made a clear point yet, but stay with me, I am getting there.
This weekend I had trouble communicating and relating to someone. This was a very odd, uncomfortable and exhausting experience for me, to say the least. This person had no opinion, no ambition, no (real) manners, and frankly, no personality. I have never met someone so neutral that they were just "nothing" before. I don't think that they had any hearing problem at all, because they seemed to understand me. Now I know that probably sounds pretty harsh, but that is really the only way that I can describe my encounter with this person. I put myself out there, gave them every opportunity to choose things to do, choose movies to watch, asked open-ended questions about themselves and what they were up to, and at the most, I received one of the following responses:
shrugging shoulders
"I don't know"
or
a blank stare at me then at the floor/phone/laptop
Weird, right?! I guess I am not sure how to handle this for future encounters. This will most likely not be the last encounter and I am not sure how much of this I can handle without just wanting to avoid it and then appear heartless...? Have any of you ever experienced anyone like this before? I guess I am just at a loss right now.
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