Relatable Guy Makes a Point About Being an Introvert: Is Our Inner-Extrovert Dying Post-Pandemic ?

The pandemic lockdowns and self-quarantining brought out the introvert in all of us. Shriveled like Voldemort in the train station, our extroversion and party-loving selves have gone into hiding and however undeveloped everyone’s introverted piece of their personality was back in 2020, it certainly has had years to grow and flourish. 

According to Read Choi, a skit maker and TikTok jokester, introverted inclinations did not spare him over the last few years. Like many of us, he shares that all-too-familiar tendency to forget how to control your face in social situations. Although everyone’s doing their best to combat our introverted selves, resting b!tch face is a tough beast to control. 

I’m not angry I swear 

Re-entering social life has presented many challenges. Pre-pandemic, it was so much easier to show interest in the most boring subjects and stories that people shared. For example, if a coworker you hated started a long-winded story about their recent pheasant hunting trip, it was much easier to feign interest and wriggle your way out of the room with a pleasant excuse and a smile on your face.
 

Nowadays, we stand slack-jawed and dead eyed, hoping that our opposition will disappear, dissolve, or that we may be saved by a meeting that could have been an email. Our work environments aren’t the only social situations that have changed and fed fuel to our introverted fires. 
 

As Read Choi points out in another video, parties are the places where we are most likely to be struck with the introversion plague, receding into the quietest, emptiest corners of every party. 

It’s my happy place

Whether you’re hiding in the bathroom or checking up on the family dog for the 10th time, parties are not as easy and lighthearted as they used to be. Sure, Fido offers some excellent company, but there’s actual people out there!

Regardless of how social we may think we are, there’s always a tiny shred of ourselves that’s desperate to be home, in pajamas, and sipping a glass of pinot noir with our cat, surrounded by scented candles, fluffy pillows, and the TV remote. 
 

As we all try to re-learn social cues and re-enter society as a normal, functioning person, let’s all remember how to engage our facial muscles into a semblance of an interested smile, while also attempting to actually be in the room with other people. 

Whether you started out as a party animal or a recluse all those years ago, we can all agree that nobody is particularly amped to be back in society, shoulder to shoulder with strangers on a sticky-floored train to downtown.