Just received a phone call from grandma and all she said
was, “Dani, nanti di RS baru kamu jangan diam saja ya. Yang banyak omong.
Ngobrol sama semua orang. Yang aktif. Yang banyak bergaul. Kamu dulu kan
pendiam, sekarang harusnya sudah nggak kan?”
And I was like, “.......what the—“
Dear Grandma, from what you said to me I draw a conclusion
that you’ve been assuming your granddaughter as the forever-alone-I-don’t-want-to-talk-to-you-go-away
antisocial doctor.
Nice. (laugh)
Keep assuming, Grandma—and all the people around me—while it’s
common sense that the more we see someone, the less we know about that person.
You never know how my social life is.
You never know how I interact with my colleagues at my
current hospital, or any other places.
You never know what I think about.
I pretty sure know how to behave like ‘normal’ people. Well,
when I say ‘normal’ basically it’s just the term for Extrovert Ideal you’ve
been thinking of the whole time. Correct me if I’m wrong.
If you want me to act like those ‘normal’ people, I would. I’m
actually quite good at faking my social life.
Nah, was that surprise you?
Or maybe you still think of me as 7 year old little girl who
know nothing about life?
Dear Grandma—and world—there is something I want to tell
you.
You’ve been wrong all the time.
You thought that this world is just for Extrovert Ideal.
No. You’re wrong.
In fact, we—introverts—are living here too.
When we are alone, it doesn’t mean we are antisocial.
When we are quiet, it doesn’t mean we have nothing to say.
When we only have few friends, it means we value our
friendship that we prefer to know deeply than to know widely.
We are comfortable with it, because there’s nothing wrong
with being Introverts, just like there’s nothing wrong with being Extroverts.
I think I’m done here and thank you for your call.
