Mis-defined

All these many years, I have been operating under the illusion that the word "extrovert" could be defined as "one who is outgoing." Quite a few people have recently informed me that this definition oversimplifies, and does not get to the heart of the meaning. More specifically, according to my friends, an extrovert is someone who draws energy from social situations. By contrast, an introvert would be exhausted by social situations.

Rather interestingly, when I went to a few dictionaries to verify these definitions, I found the old standby to make the only appearance. According to Websters, an extrovert is gregarious and unreserved, and Britannica makes no mention of energy either

But lets please not let the research get in the way of my point.

For the sake of argument, lets call my friends greater experts than the dictionary and say that an extrovert is someone who draws their energy from other people. And this is my personal diagnosis for my recent exhaustion. Such exhaustion, in fact, that I did indeed take myself to the doctor and ask her to run a bunch of tests. As it turns out, my thyroid is just fine, my cholesterol looks fantastic, and my Vitamin D is a little low. But nothing that looks to be causing the type of exhaustion I've been feeling lately.

My diagnosis? Not enough social interaction to raise my energy level. And plenty of moving nonsense and stressed out kids to drain it. I'm still working on the Rx for this diagnosis, but simply becoming aware of the issue has helped. Since I decided that my exhaustion is not physical, but rather entirely in my head, I have given up my afternoon nap and decided that I am no longer tired. Just grumpy sometimes, and a little nervous about school letting out next week.