Introvert Response Ability

Yesterday I wasn't thinking this but today I am: I wonder how many of those two million people on the Mall at the inauguration were introverts. And I wonder how they're doing today.

I joined the inauguration festivities last weekend via TV, starting with the presidential train ride into Washington, D.C. It's been years since I've seen this much TV. Once I got into it, I wasn't completely mesmerized, but almost.

I watched the inauguration ceremony itself on the big screen, with a crowd at a neighborhood theater. And last night I spent an hour and a half in another crowd, a happy, noisy inauguration party organized by friends, in a neighborhood restaurant. Today it feels almost like I was on the Mall yesterday – I'm wiped out.

The day before the inauguration, on the Oprah Winfrey show, I saw a clip of a film I believe the actress Demi Moore is directing. The clip was of celebrities, it seemed, (although I recognized only some) making pledges, one after another.

One guy pledged to think of himself as American instead of African-American. Somebody else pledged to remember to turn off the lights more often. Some of the pledges, like those, were personal, practical. Others, as I recall, had broader scope and were more like projects.

I can't remember this film project's name – it's a work in process – but I gathered it's aimed at encouraging people to participate in helping the world work better. Maybe an early sign of the new era of responsibility.

This afternoon, in my inauguration afterglow, I remembered those pledgers with a smile – they inspired me – and I decided to make my own pledge.

I may be premature in announcing it. I haven't slept on it or even thought about it much since I got the idea (a few minutes ago.) But it's not inconsistent with my general tendency, so I'm trusting my intuition and going for it :-).

My pledge is to be more of an introvert.

Now, many people in my life would say I have a strong – some would say exaggerated – sense of responsibility. It's an introvert tendency and I do have it. Probably not surprising that I woke up this morning with "a new era of responsibility" in my head.

I'm so responsible that some people in my life might even prefer a new era of irresponsibility for me.

But today I'm thinking about responsibility as "ability to respond." I'm wondering about my pledge this way: what's my ability to respond to the world even more as an introvert? I like the question.

It's too soon to have a good answer, of course, but I think it has to do with slowing down even more, being even quieter and more thoughtful – and happy to do it.

As my saying goes, "The world needs more introvert energy!"

End of food for thought – on to some practical ideas:

A Practical Idea for Introverts

Join the movement! Pledge to be more of an introvert :-).

A Practical Idea for Extroverts

Pledge to be more of an extrovert – what would that look like?