The Rideouts are, of course, not missing the world much as we mostly see the world as a giant intrusion in our lives. In an over-scheduled world, we were proud of our under-scheduling - now everyone else is catching up with us!
I've been thinking about this a lot in light of my recent post on how society and those around us shape us.
I'm always surprised by how much of my mood can be affected by external stimuli:
dark and dreary day? I feel sluggish and down.
someone slights me or ignores me? I feel like a loser.
someone compliments me or explicitly values me? Happy!
bright, sunny day? Happy!
Who is this guy? Some introvert I am! Intellectually, I identify with the classic Simon and Garfunkel song or the, slightly less classic, the The musing on Buddhism. The thing is, I may intellectually want to be an island, self-sufficient, and emotionally detached but that is not how we are hard-wired, it is?
I think a lot of teachers (myself included?) are actually ambiverts and have both extraverted and introverted tendencies: I miss the engagement of school. I miss my students (well, most of them). I even miss a couple of my colleagues (not really - I just threw that in there in case one of them happens upon this entry)!
But I enjoy sitting by myself, downstairs, reading on my kindle, watching videos with my earbuds in, playing solitary video games, checking on the lack of online assignments not getting done by my students, and having an excuse to not leave the house.
Can I have both, please?
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