Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength (Reduce Anxiety and Boost Your Confidence and Self-Esteem with this Self-Help Book for Introverted Women and Men)

by Laurie A. Helgoe

Introverts are often deeply concerned about the human condition; they just tend to look within for answers.

In an increasingly public society, the emphasis shifts from quality to visibility; from good products to good marketing; from knowing to being known. There is no time; we need to “git ’er done” and “get out there.” Is it any wonder that anxiety disorders have become the common cold of American life? We live much of our lives in panic mode, grasping for more without considering why. We’re like children running into the streets to grab the candy thrown from the parade float, only to realize that the cheap morsels taste funny.

According to Jung, all of the parts of ourselves that we reject go into the unconscious in the form of the Shadow archetype, while the parts we approve of become our face to the world, the Persona. If the persona is squeaky clean, the shadow will be pretty dirty. The more the shadow is denied, the more destructive its potential. On the other hand, an individual with a negative persona will have what Jung called the “white shadow.” The cloistered, mild-mannered person we often find under the intimidating Goth persona is an apt example of the white shadow.

When we reflexively avoid—or attempt to reform—people of a more contemplative temperament, we lose sight of the gifts they offer. And when you’re the one being avoided or pressured to get happy quick, you may neglect the richness of your own experience, forget that you were okay a minute ago, and view your sadness as a threat. Depression is what happens when the life gets taken out of sadness.