The virtue of solidarity and how it impacted my life

I believe that having a healthy mind must be a top priority, at least for myself. But to achieve a healthy mind, you must first understand how your own works and accept that you may be different from others. I am an introvert and my mind works best whenever I am alone. Not to be confused with being antisocial or be simplified as shyness, introverts expend energy from being around people and gain energy in solitude. I do not mind talking to people occasionally, but I need some time alone after social interaction. Those times of solitude are a great way to ponder on myself and whatever problems I am currently facing. I grew up as an introvert and I thought that was a bad thing. It was during my early teenage years when I noticed that I like doing things alone. Being around my extroverted extended family, being the quiet one never felt right.

They look like they’re having more fun than I do. But that’s not the case because everyone has a different approach to what ‘ fun’ is. I prefer hanging out with my friends whom I’m most comfortable to be with. I am not into small talks just because even thinking about a topic to talk about is already tiring for me. But that’s not to say that I hate talking to people. In fact, I am a great listener and is deeply observant of others. I tend to process things quietly in my head instead of saying it out loud. It may be because I do not know what the best thing to say is. Some people may think of this as a bad thing but listening and observing are the best ways of learning. After all, children learn and process things through language. I have a vivid imagination. Not only do I use this in creating art, but also, I tend to contemplate a lot about what ifs. The problem with this is that it may get stuck in my head, over-analyzing and replaying events. I do not like taking risks. I do not consider confessing my feelings to someone I like with the fear of rejection. It may see a bad thing but at least I know I’m not ready.

Generally, I like to see how things work but moreover, I find it meaningful to be self-aware and understand myself. I like to take my time and go at my own pace when I learn new things and develop new skills. I prefer doing things that involve freedom and independence. Studying in college, I prefer working alone than in a group. Establishing a good communication among groupmates is the most important thing to do, which I am not good at. And that is aside from having unequal distribution of tasks. I find it difficult sharing my ideas in a group because I feel more vulnerable. I value the freedom of being alone and not having to blame or be blamed when something goes wrong, but most importantly, I find it very fulfilling to be rewarded on something I did by myself. It helps me discover and understand things about what I can do and what I am incapable of doing. Social development is the most significant change during adolescence. It is the stage Erikson refers to as “ identity vs role confusion”, when adolescents face to task of identifying who you are and what do you want to be. The intent of personality theories isn’t to box us up neatly into categories, but they exist to show how unique we are and what our needs are.