Ravings of the Introvert

I prefer being alone.  I prefer it to being with other people, even people I love.  When I'm with people whose company I really enjoy, I'm looking for a way out - I'm picturing the end game: when can I leave?  It's not that I don't ever enjoy the company of people but that I usually prefer silence to the endless prattling that passes for conversation coming out of the mouths of others.

I don't think I'm better than other people but I still don't want to be around them.  I don't think I'm worse than they are, either, and I don't give a shit what they think about me.  I like to read and write.  I practice yoga by myself, outside.  I go to a busy exercise club, walking through the crowded weight rooms, past the thumping, jiggling classes, to the pool, where I swim in silence, under water, listening to my own breath.  I take long hikes alone, into the back country - all I can hear is wind and birds and my own ragged breathing.  I can't imagine how hearing someone  talking in that environment would improve the experience.  I drink coffee alone at a crowded coffee shop - often I sit and think and judge and watch people swirl by.  I'm glad I'm in the midst of them and glad they're leaving me alone.

It's an extraordinarily pleasant way to be.