Boxes Aren’t for People

I’ve been so busy editing and writing and filling out forms that I’ve had no time to write here. How horrid!

I get very introverted in the summer which is probably what helps me get all the words down on paper. See, I have to be the ultimate extravert at my day job for nine months of the year, so in the summer I nest. I shut the doors, windows, blinds, and drapes, and I’m totally cool if they don’t open until I’m getting ready to go somewhere. This is the joy of being an ambivert, both introverted and extraverted. I understand both sides extremely well, and I do both sides very well.

But “sides” is a very divisive word, isn’t it? Is life black or white? I’m in the middle of a lot of things. Heck, I’m bisexual, and people have tried to get me to choose straight or gay. Some have had the audacity to choose for me. I think at times we forget how many characteristics really exist on a continuum rather than the distinctive categories that have been labeled for us. Look at this great infographic on gender alone. It’s so much more complex than the few labels that are so easily thrown around.

Why do we need to stick people in boxes and slap labels on them? Because it’s easier? I wish there was more personal balance and greater societal ambiguity, but there are too many people ready and willing to shove us into boxes and place expectations on us so their lives are easier to sort.

Balance between my introversion and extraversion is what I’m seeking right now. What do you seek balance on?