IntrovertDear.com • 4th March 2019

The 5 Things INFPs Value Most in Life

INFPs are described as idealistic dreamers, guided in life by their personal values rather than hard facts and logic. In many ways this is true, as we often focus more on how the world could be than how it actually is. This doesn’t mean we’re incapable of facing reality, just that we wish it could be better.

IntrovertDear.com • 9th November 2018

3 Thoughts Introverts Might Have at the Start of a New Relationship

After living in what felt like a perpetual state of singleness following my last break-up, I recently found someone who made the long wait seem totally worth it. He’s my boyfriend now, and I still feel a rush of giddiness using the term. Perhaps I’m biased because I’m an introvert, but I like to think there’s something particularly special that happens when two introverts fall in love.

Highly Sensitive Refuge • 5th September 2018

8 Reasons Being Highly Sensitive Is Actually a Good Thing

Don’t be so sensitive — it’s not that big of a deal. As someone who’s come to appreciate my sensitive side, I find it unfortunate that being sensitive is often equated with being weak or dramatic. Sensitivity is wrongly depicted as an undesirable trait, while nonchalance is mistaken for a sign of strength. While I do agree it’s important to recognize your high sensitivity and find ways to make it work for you — rather than against you — it’s not inherently bad to be sensitive.

IntrovertDear.com • 13th June 2018

4 Powerful Strengths of the Introverted Teacher

I’m an introvert. I’m a teacher. I’m an introverted teacher. As much as I love writing about and discussing introversion, I know being an introvert doesn’t define me — even if it feels that way sometimes. Just like being a teacher is part of who I am, it’s not what makes me who I am. However, after working as an ESL teacher for nearly a decade, I’ve noticed ways in which my introverted personality can function as an advantage in the classroom.

IntrovertDear.com • 12th April 2018

4 Things I Wish Extroverts Understood About Introverts

Like most introverts, I have extroverted friends, and I love them. I appreciate their energy and enthusiasm — most of the time — and the way they drag me out of my shell when I need a nudge. But, there’s no denying we’re different creatures with different communication styles and needs.

Bolde • 5th April 2018

If He Isn't A Good Listener, Your Relationship Won’t Go Anywhere

When you’re in a relationship, it’s natural to want to be heard and understood by your partner. While good listeners are unfortunately pretty hard to come by, it’s a non-negotiable quality in a good relationship for me, and it definitely should be for you too.

IntrovertDear.com • 15th March 2018

Why Silence Is So Powerful, Especially for Introverts

Recently, I found myself immersed in an introvert wonderland in the mountains of northern Thailand. While attending a yoga and meditation retreat at a tranquil ashram, I experienced silence in a whole new way.

Urban Adventures • 9th February 2018

The spiritual story of Thailand’s spirit houses

There is something in the air in Thailand. There must be. I have lived on and off — mostly on — in this beautiful country for more than four years now. From the moment I first got off the plane in Chiang Mai, a town nestled in the mountains of the north, there was a feeling, a trace of something inwardly palpable, surrounding me and dissolving slowly, leaving me feeling calm, connected and definitively lighter.

IntrovertDear.com • 5th February 2018

3 Difficult Things About Being a Single Introvert Looking for Love

I may as well admit this from the start. In addition to being an introvert who absolutely adores her alone time, I’m also quite the hopeless romantic. This combination of attributes sets my head and heart up for some intense emotional gymnastics, especially in today’s dating world.

Surat Warrior Writers • 9th January 2018

Returning Back - Ode to Chiang Mai

Through time apart, our journeys split by a sharp fork in the road, we've both expanded, ​we've shifted. ​Here a little, there a lot. Our borders have changed shape, pieces of us have disappeared, and new ones have risen up from the ground.

Surat Warrior Writers • 9th January 2018

Come Out

Crack, there's a crack in the cocoon. It's only a sliver of light, but it illuminates all of my hollow space, and I start to wonder, what is out there, beyond my borders. What is shining so brightly, and how do I find it, so I can shine too?

Surat Warrior Writers • 7th January 2018

Brief Musings from Railey

Sunlight seeps into me through my skin. A dragonfly beats his wings. Someone whispers in a language I don't understand. There is chirping, rustling, breeze in the trees. The distant sound of an engine registers, then fades. A mass of cottony cloud slowly, visibly approaches the sun, closing a gap of cerulean blue before my eyes.

Surat Warrior Writers • 7th January 2018

Jaisalmer

​Shadows cast, on desert sand. Rippled dunes, unspoiled, unmarked. Rays of sun, orange and pink. Tinkling bells, round camels' necks.

Surat Warrior Writers • 7th January 2018

Dreamer Child

Be realistic child, what you’re looking for, it’s not found on the tippity top tree branch stretching towards the sun. But I’ll climb. Be realistic child, it’s not hidden under the fold of a bird’s tender feathered wing. But I’ll fly.

IntrovertDear.com • 5th January 2018

All the Weird Thoughts an Introvert Has After Socializing

Many of us introverts truly love connecting with others — and are actually pretty good at it due to our stellar listening skills — but find it very draining under certain circumstances. In fact, when we’re feeling particularly overstimulated, it can lead to a period of extreme introverting, an introvert bender of sorts where all we want to do is hermit and let our energy replenish in peace.

Surat Warrior Writers • 11th December 2017

What it's not

What I feel is, droplets dripping gently onto that spot between my shoulders, descending from a tangled mess of wet hair pulled back from my face, and soft sand, grainy under my feet, welcoming my toes to sink into its depth.

Surat Warrior Writers • 11th December 2017

In Varanasi

A fiery orange sun, immaculately round, shrouded in eternal haze, overlooks a peaceful chaos, a beguiling bedlam, on the endless stairways of the ghats.

Surat Warrior Writers • 11th December 2017

Spider Web Stories

To me, lovely is weather that is not too hot or too cold. It's drinking creamy rich masala staring at the rolling silhouettes of the mountains in northern Thailand. It's colorful mats to sit on and the freedom to spend the whole day as I please. It's supporting my body with healthy, fresh, colorful sustenance and stretching each limb until it loosens. It's unapologetically occupying my own little space of the universe in those rare moments when I feel just right, not too little, not too much, just enough.

IntrovertDear.com • 5th December 2017

4 Ways Introverts and Cats Are Exactly the Same

On a recent visit home, I met someone. She was soft, affectionate, and always down for a good cuddle. She was an outdoor cat, and a green-eyed beauty. We clicked almost immediately, and whenever I returned to the house, she’d hop out of the brush or dash out from under the porch to greet me. She’d look up at me with her gorgeous eyes as if to say, “Pet me. I love you.”

IntrovertDear.com • 21st March 2017

4 Ways Yoga Helped Me Break Out of My Awkward Introvert Shell

Although the world tells me I should feel empowered by my body, and that self-confidence is sexier than self-doubt, the truth is I’ve never really been all that comfortable in my own skin. As an introvert and an INFP personality type (one of the MBTI types way up there on the self-consciousness scale), I’m particularly prone to experiencing a pretty pervasive sense of awkwardness at all times.