Rest in Peace, Sweet Prince

Well, The Purple One is gone.  I’m a little disappointed that we (by whom I mean the public) was not made privy to where his final resting place will be.  However, I am happy that his estate will be made into a museum.  Can’t say I didn’t see that coming.   

Prince, by all accounts, was a loving and caring man, a generous man, obviously a straight up genius and, something you won’t hear much about – appeared to be an introvert despite his flashy stage persona.  Sure, you hear that he was purposely mysterious, declining to do interviews for much of his career, you never saw him doing the big Hollywood thing, and he was conspicuously absent from the tabloids.  He pretty much stuck to home, tooling around his Minneapolis on sundry errands, but he mostly seemed to stick to his sprawling Paisley Park estate.  No extrovert could stand to be that intensely private for long.   

From the rare occasions when we did glimpse him not performing, he seemed reticent; slightly uncomfortable, self-composed.  Quite introverted indeed.  Perhaps even a little shy too.  I’m very sad that corporeally he is gone, but like all the brilliant and famous among us, he will live on forever through his work. Apparently the work we do know only scratches the surface.  Reportedly Prince has a vault of work that, according to a close source, “would take a decade to listen to.”  In the end, Prince died as he lived, on his own terms.  In a world dominated by extroverted norms, that’s a hell of a life.  Rest in peace, and goodnight sweet Prince.

Shytrovert Wishes You A Happy April Fools' Day - btw, Do You Have Foot in Mouth Disorder?

 

Happy April Fools’ Day! Today brings to mind that famous Mark Twain quote: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”  In my experience as a Shytrovert, this is true of a lot of people who tend to often contract foot in mouth disease, aka open mouth insert foot.  I and many of my shy and introverted cohorts are not these people. 

Maybe it’s because of my superior impulse control according to experts (sadly, mine does not extend to chocolate, and I may be losing the wine battle as well). 

It has been determined that impulse control has a positive correlation to intelligence and greater life success.  I can see that, since popping off about your boss being a dick at the Christmas party would a) not be too wise, and b) land you on the street without a job.  Hey, that’s a hypothetical, but people have done dumber things!

So, are shy folks and introverted folks lack of yapping off the top of their heads randomly a cause of better impulse control or a crucial characteristic of it?  Well, from what I know of introverts, being one myself, they hold back because they’re thinkers who can appreciate the dire consequences of speaking out of turn.  We have a tougher time recovering from the fallout with our maddening propensity for rumination.

When you have a filter as strong and tightly knit as an introvert's, it's easy to not make a damn fool out of yourself on April 1st or any other time.

So, I’ll put the question out there:  Have you ever said the absolutely wrong thing in a social situation? Something like accusing someone of being so stupid they rode the little yellow bus to attend school when they actually did ride the little yellow bus? This is a true and unfortunate example from my own life-- a former co-worker said this to someone in front of a crowd of people.  No, my co-worker was not an introvert.  Go figure, but we’re not perfect either.  Everybody plays the fool sometime after all.