Introverts
Yesterday, I took an adventure, with my bike and my camera, into the trails of my town’s forest preserve.
I had been craving a bike ride for a while and I have a feeling the craving was a disguise for some quality me-time.
Recently, I was talking with a friend about the balance between spending time the people you love and being alone.
We’re all social beings, some more-so than others, but even for the most extroverted people, time alone is crucial.
As a very introverted person, I like Saturday nights when I’m alone in my room cleaning or editing pictures. And while I love the hours of time with myself, I’ve also realized that just like there are both quality and lousy ways to spend time with a friend, there are quality and lousy ways to spend time with yourself.
Watching TV and going on social media are great ways to relax and give yourself a break, but you don’t get to know a person very well through these somewhat mindless activities. So, I've stopped considering binge watching Jane The Virgin my “introverted time”.
This is where my bike ride comes in.
I put on my cozy, grey cardigan and my favorite sheep socks (not wool, just cartoon sheep), put some fresh air in my tires (thanks for helping me, dad), and began listening to some good bike ride tunes (go listen to all of Tom Rosenthal’s discography).
I basically took myself on a date.
I learned in my social psych class last year about how much marital satisfaction goes down when a couple has kids. And also how it spikes right back up once the kids leave the house. It’s kind of funny, but maybe we can apply this on an internal level. Whatever is sucking up some of the time we should be giving to ourselves, we gotta put it on the back burner or like get it a babysitter every once in a while.
Anyway, these photos are the products of my solo adventure and I’m making it one of my goals right now to spend more meaningful time with myself.
Shoutout to this butterfly for staying on this flower long enough for me to get the focus right on this picture.Side-note: Monarch butterflies were my favorite when I was a kid and in first grade, I had caterpillars in a net, in my room, and I watched them hatch into their adult-monarch form and then, let them go. They are endangered, but they’re coming back. Plant some milkweed in your backyard for them to eat and lay their eggs on. It could be good me-time, too.
Give yourself some introverted time this week.~kj