Cover story of TIME Magazine, Feb 6, 2012
這篇文章，真是給人安慰呢。
其實將人分成是introvert（內向）和extrovert（外向），無疑是簡單的；
不過其實有時簡單並不是壞事；有些事情，本身其實也不複雜的。
只要比膚淺深入一些，可能對於很多人來說，已十分受用。
這篇作為TIME的封面故事，其實說的十分簡單：內向的人並不差，外向的人也不見得很好。
這是要回應一個普遍印象，內向的人不擅交際，口才不亮麗，及不上可以「開朗」地在宴會上跟不認識的朋友交談甚歡的外向者。
對於作者來說，要他在宴會上滿臉堆歡四圍走，他寧願躲在廁所呆等。
用最簡單的話說，作者強調，內向的人有着獨特的優點：相對地更傾向謹言慎行、深思熟慮、更願意聆聽別人，等等。
相對起作者引經據典、真人故事證明上述的性格特質，其實更重要的是他指出，這個社會對外向者是過分吹捧；而內向者不合群，被視為是一個問題。
作者要為他的內向同行者平反。
"From classrooms built around group learning to open-plan offices that encourage endless meetings, it sometimes seems that the quality of your work has less value than the volume of your voice."
"And as if the world weren't slanted enough toward the extrovert, study after study has made sociability seem like a prerequisite for good health, right along with low cholesterol and frequent exercise. Very shy and introverted people have been shown to succumb more rapidly to diseases like HIV and to be at greater risk for depression than their extroverted counterparts. In schools, it's the bolder kids who get attention from teachers, while quiet children can too easily languish in the back of the classroom. "Our culture expects people to be outgoing and sociable," says Christopher Lane, an English professor at Northwestern University and the author of Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness. "It's the unstated norm, and against that norm introverts stand out as seemingly problematic."
在商業往來頻繁、高速產業化的城市裏，人本來已甚少獨處時間；
如果連工作和學習的模式都要求人時時合群，對於內向者，這樣一種城市生活就更加難以習慣。如果因為這樣而被冠以問題、落後者的標籤，這明顯是對內向者的壓力，更遑論，其實「內向」和「傾向內向」的人，佔了三四成。
所以這城市變得張力更大。
其實不是要將內向者變成外向，卻是在內向的性格中尋找新的亮光。內向者是比較喜歡自處，接受新刺激可能較慢，但當有其他的因素幫助，生命也可以不斷自主地、滿足地更新。
哈佛大學很受歡迎的心理系教授 Brian Little 本身也是 introvert，他提出了 "Free Trait Theory":
"The idea that while we have certain fixed bits of personality, we can act out of character in the service of core personal goals. The key is balancing three equal but very different identities. There's our mostly inborn personality, the one that wants us to be introverted or extroverted; that's the biogenic identity. There are the expectations of our culture, family and religion -- the sociogenic identity. And then there are our personal desires and our sense of what matters -- the ideogenic identity.
作者最後的結語，都是很 uplifting 的：
"So it can be for all of us introverts. From the moment we wake up to the second we go to sleep -- preferably after relaxing with a book in bed -- introverts live in an extrovert's world, and there are days when we'd prefer to do nothing more than stay at home. But while our temperaments may define us, that doesn't mean we're controlled by them -- if we can find something or someone that motivates us to push beyond the boundaries of our nerves. I am happy to be an introvert, but that's not all I am."
其實都是老生常談，不是嗎?
