A Word About , …Alone

Quick now: Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Many people think the way you measure such a thing is by how ‘talkative’ you are, or how shy you are. But researchers say that’s not the determining factor in introversion or extroversion. Instead, it’s what re-charges your battery emotionally. 

I know some people who are absolutely wired to ‘fill up their tank’ emotionally by spending time being with people, hanging out with lots of friends, doing some activity or playing a game or just plain having fun. Others find that those kinds of activities drain them exceedingly, and in order to stay balanced and sort of up-right, they have to find regular, secluded spots where they can be alone, read, do solitary things by themselves.

Introverts love aloneness to recharge. Statistics are that 40-50% of us are introverts. And the extroverts among us, who love activity to recharge? About 50-60% of people are extroverts. But me? I’m what they call an ‘ambivert,’ someone who migrates in both directions, or perhaps ‘either direction’ would be a better way to put it, depending on the situation. 

There’s a lot that social scientists say about we who are ambiverts. We tend to have good communications and listening skills, so being with people isn’t difficult or too draining. And we can also easily recharge in our alone times, and being alone with ourselves doesn’t bother us a bit. I’ve noticed something about myself: there’s a big difference between what my being alone with myself does for me, and what being alone with God does for me.

When I’m alone with me, I’m very much aware that no one can share the space my mind and heart occupy. No one knows where I am in my head except the God who gives me life, and strength and purpose; the God who is my refuge. In my aloneness, I would do well to rehearse in my mind the power and strength in that word, ‘alone,’ not because I’m an introvert. Alone takes on a different meaning when I declare in my solitude, “He alone is my God, my refuge, my place of safety”. 

Ps. 91:2 says,”This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust Him.”  

When my feet hit life’s cold floor every morning, I need to make a firm declaration about the Lord, alone. How different, I think, life would be if I could embrace and practice the message of that verse. If I woke every morning determined not as an introvert or extrovert or ambivert, but someone focused on God alone.