The Gift of Introversion

My Gonzo is the same way — he throws himself with great
passion and charisma into just about everything he does,
including parenting and husbanding. It’s impossible for
Gonzo to be in the room without feeling the warmth of
his presence. And I gather that when he was a very
young man, he threw himself into his social life with
similar energy. Today Gonzo is still the same person —
no one would ever call him an introvert — but
his attentions are directed in a decidedly more
interior direction.
But all of this is anecdotal. According to
research psychology, the answer to the
question of whether personalities change
over time is no, and yes.
Studies show that the personality of a 70-yearold
can be predicted with remarkable accuracy
from early adulthood on. Despite the variety of
situations that we experience in a lifetime — all of
them influencing who we are and how we grow —
our core traits tend to remain constant. It’s not that
our personalities don’t evolve — for example, many
introverts report feeling more socially confident and
graceful as they mature — but we tend to stick to
predictable patterns.
THE POWER OF INTROVERTS | 35