Flaws of an introvert fan girl.

I’m a total introvert. 99% of the time I am content with the social interaction I get at work and the rest of my interactions with others, including my closest friends, all happens either online or via text. I hate talking on the phone, in fact the only person I speak to regularly on the phone is Hubby, and not for much longer than 10 minutes at a time usually. I hate crowds of people and I hate being the centre of attention.

Having to attend two gatherings back to back brings me to tears, like during my second visit to the UK before moving here when Hubby proposed and his mum had planned an engagement party one day and then a family BBQ the next. While I very much appreciated the sentiment behind it and smiled through it bravely all I really remember from that weekend is crying the morning before the BBQ because the thought of having to face people – anyone – was too much to bear.

That being said, I love going to concerts and I love going to conventions. Talk about a 180! I will happily spend 4 days in a hotel with a thousand other like-minded people and talk to the guests I’m there to meet and I’m always excited to go to gigs and experience a crowd where everyone is there because they enjoy what’s happening. These experiences do drain me significantly, but I look forward to them.

But amidst the hordes of other fans attending conventions and gigs, I don’t socialise. Hubby and I stick to each other like glue. There are people I interact with online that I recognise when I’m at conventions, a lot of us all go to the same ones, but I don’t speak to them in person. I find it strange myself, but I’m such a slow socialiser, nearly every one of my closest friends were met through work where I was able to spend time getting to know them/them know me and get comfortable with them.

I’m trying (slowly!) to become a little more outgoing at events, but it still pushes a lot of boundaries for me. Maybe one day I will be able to just hang out with a group of people I don’t know well, but I’m a way off from that.

I’m still very much looking forward to the two conventions and two gigs booked this year, though! I have to get my sci-fi/music fan girl fix somewhere! 🙂

(The conventions are also pretty good motivation to work out, with photos being taken and all!!)