Introverts of the world…
…just act like an extrovert and you’ll be happier.
Well, of course. I’ve been attempting to do that, with a modicum of success, for decades. I call myself an extroverted introvert.
And Rogers and Hammerstein were well aware of the phenomenon (here’s the original recording I was raised on, with Gertrude Lawrence):
[NOTE: By the way, I just learned via that font of knowledge, Wiki, that the real Anna was Eurasian, but kept her ancestry secret until long after her death:
[Anna] Leonowens was the Eurasian daughter of an Indian Army soldier and widow of Thomas Owens, a clerk and hotel keeper. She had arrived in Singapore two years previously, claiming to be the genteel widow of an officer and explaining her dark complexion by stating that she was Welsh by birth. Her deception was not detected until long after her death, and had still not come to light when The King and I was written.
Here’s the real, as opposed to the Broadway, Anna:
Neither Gertrude Lawrence nor Deborah Kerr. Yeah, but could she sing?]
Nor was she the “governess” to the Royal children; rather she was their teacher of the English language with a bit of history and culture added to enable her students to possibly understand the language better. Little if anything of her tale was true, especially the parts about the King being attracted to her. In the first instance, Rama IV was about 60 years old when she came to court; secondly, had over one hundred wives, both formal and informal; thirdly and decisively he was wise enough not to have desired any such foolish connection with her. For these among other reasons, “Anna and the King of Siam” in all its written and movie incarnations was banned from the Kingdom. And justly so.
As with Ike, I have little use for the Anna Leonowens fairy tale. Having spent a fair amount of time in Thailand, I can say the Thais’ view of her frauds is less than charitable or forgiving. Basically, they look at her as besmirching the memory of a decent and forward-looking monarch, King Mongkot (or Rama IV, if you follow the Chakri Dynasty numbering system; the current king, Bhumiphol, is Rama IX), as well as attempting to cash in on things she never did or was. Yes, the Thais do guard very jealously the reputations of their royals, often to excess, but they have a point with Anna.
Oh, come now. This isn’t about Siam — this is about a fabulous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical!
My parents saw the original production in New York; my dad came to NYC on business in 1985 and took me to see Yul Brynner do his last turn.
It had recently been announced that he was dying of lung cancer, so it was poignant: also, I really missed seeing him do “Is A Puzzlement” (they gave that number to the crown prince, and it didn’t work nearly so well: also, I had the sound of the Kerr/Brynner production, whose LP we had, ringing in my ears). I also noticed that Yul was wearing flesh-colored socks to keep his feet warm, because we were in the fifth row and could see everything.
I’m glad I got to see him live, but my favorite version of the performance is still the movie version, which I saw first.
I haven’t seen Lawrence perform, but I’ve heard about her all my life. Will go to the toob and see if they have something.
I should note that I grew up with the Marni Nixon – Yul Brynner version of the movie soundtrack, since Marni, as usual, did the honors (and as usual, NOT credited on the liner notes).
Wasn’t she amazing? always sounded like the characters and the actresses playing them, and sang beautifully at the same time.
I call myself an extroverted introvert.
I call myself just the opposite. Meaningfully though. I am much more extroverted but would prefer a more sedate, slightly less socially interactive experience. Funny how we don’t get to just pick who, or what, we are? Even my cats wonder about me sometimes, going on as I do. Sassy, the youngest, usually enjoys chatting, even my tirades so long as they aren’t about her. Mostly. I can, and do, speak with almost anyone who is willing, and some who aren’t. Being human, sapient, or even alive is optional. *grins* Yes, a bit more on the introverted side would be nice?
Trade?
“Introverts of the world…
…just act like an extrovert and you’ll be happier”
I must profoundly disagree!!! See “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”, by Susan Cain. Having spent most of my life believing that something was wrong with me because I wasn’t an extrovert, I’m rather touchy on this subject!! Be who you are!
I saw Yul Brynner in London in 1977 playing the king. He was fabulous – you couldn’t look at anyone or anything else when he was on stage.
As for real-life Anna, meh.
Nothing wrong with either style stretching into the strengths of the other. I LOVE that song – INTJ. Makes me want to dance.
I’m with Amy. Acting like someone I’m not doesn’t make me happier, it makes me more stressed. Extraversion is taxing, and never leaves me in a better mental or emotional state afterwards.
I third your view Amy.
This study is preposterous as a general statement. Maybe for some introverts or quasi- or pseudo-introverts it holds good, but as an extreme – I mean extreme – introvert myself, I can authoritatively deny that it is true for me.
I also think that this idea of “happiness” as a rush of some chemical born of stimulating social interaction simply presupposed the values of extroversion. The assumption that introverts are less happy is just too flabby to be worth anything. (Personally, I don’t like adopting happiness as any kind of standard, preferring instead benchmarks like the ancient Greek eudaimonia – flourishing – and what we call contentment, in other words, more stable and adult standards related to the overall shape of a life).
In any case, I find that whenever I am force to act like an extrovert I am destroyed. Every moment feels like another piece of my soul getting sucked out of my body, until after an hour or so I am utterly depleted. I usually wind up going home unsatisfied, exhausted, and with a tremendous headache requiring two alleves to… alleviate.
The last thing we need is extroverts coming at us brandishing STUDIES and telling us with even more sanctimony that we just need to “break out of our shells.”
We don’t have shells. We have a rich and wide world of experience that we are exquisitely sensitive to. And – speaking for myself – I wouldn’t trade it for anything, even or especially for the compulsively repeated, transient dopamine bursts of the extroverted life.
Incidentally, anyone remember that study that showed that introverts are underrepresented in the population at large (something like 25 or 30%) but overrepresented among the highly intelligent (something like 60%)? Maybe the “shell” is an observatory.
I’m a bit late to this discussion, but I just read a similar and more interesting article than the one published in the Wall Street Journal. This one focuses on shyness rather than introversion, but some of the same ground is covered.
So, if anyone’s interested in this post by Neo, I’d recommend also taking a look at “The crystalline wall: shyness is a part of being human. The world would be a more insipid, less creative place without it.”
Here’s the URL
http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/shyness-cannot-be-cured-it-is-part-of-being-human/
I’d consider my self more of an introvert than the average person, but I’ve had a number of jobs that required me to act like an extrovert. I did pretty well, but it didn’t make me happy. It was exhausting.
By the way, the wiki page on Anna Leonowens herself lists her father as a sergeant in the British army who served in India and says she was a quarter Indian through her maternal grandmother.
‘just act like an extrovert and you’ll be happier.’
Well the world is definitely ruled by extroverted morning people. There is no doubt about that.
On the other hand; “to thine own self be true” seems like reasonable advice to me.