My secret is out of the box! I am less special today. Or is that I am less complicated? Or am I finally complicated enough to have a label? So many directions to go with this enlightenment!

We live in a world about labels, and then once you have a label… counseling and medications are developed to help you overcome your individual quirks. I have been immune to labels. After all my labels are not ones that people talk about. Mother, heterosexual, blonde and white female are not labels people care to discuss or over-complicate. I am sure if I would have put myself through enough counseling I would have had labels, but I do not have the money or desire to get them. Instead I have gone my whole life without an appropriate label. I watch commercials and Dr. Phil that are all about labels and problems, and have been fortunate enough for the subjects to never be about me as an individual person, and I was okay with that.

I wrote a personal narrative months back titled I AM THE BLONDE WHO DOESN’T GET IT and I was given one label in a response to the story by a fellow writer and she said that I was an introvert. She wasn’t wrong to say that, and I can see how the label fits, but I like to be different, and that label only fits half the time. Well… Facebook posted an article about a label that actually fit me. It is a new one and I suppose that is the great thing about medicine… there is a label for everything eventually.

It turns out I am an Ambivert. The title, or label, is so new that MS Word doesn’t recognize it, and Myers-Briggs is unable to provide it as a personality type. Maybe The Big Bang Theory will make a show around the topic sometime? I can see it working for some of the characters and story lines.

Anyway, what is an Ambivert? Well, it is a person too special to be called an introvert or extrovert 100% of the time. That is an Ambivert in a nutshell, but there are several signs that would tell a person that they fit this label.

Epoch Times posted an article by Karen Cheng on January 19, 2016 and the information I have on this label comes strictly from this article. It provided me with a nice Ah-Hah moment, so here it goes. Here are the signs you are an Ambivert:
1. You are comfortable socializing and meeting new people but you are also fine with alone time. I thought this tendency applied to everybody, but I guess exceptions are out there??
2. You know when to be outgoing and when to be more reserved. Again – this seems like common sense and would apply to most people, but what do I know??
3. You relate to the characteristics of both an introvert and extrovert. Well, this one certainly fits me. I was just too stubborn to be just one or the other.
4. Sometimes you are involved deeply in a moment and other times you sit back and observe the situation or people involved in a moment. I don’t know how you could always be immersed in something, but again what do I know??
5. Small talk doesn’t scare you but it can seem disingenuous. Me personally – I am okay with small talk but not a bunch of unneeded details. Am I weird?
6. Some people call you quiet and reserved and others call you sociable. I know when I was in college I was very sociable, but the group was small enough to feel comfortable being that way. I tend to shy away in larger crowds and blend into the background instead.
7. Too much time with others is draining, but too much time alone can leave you feeling gloomy and unproductive. This sign is me 100%!The dinging can stop now.

So, there you have it folks! A new label for the odd people out there who couldn’t be just an introvert or extrovert! I didn’t need a label, and if I wanted to be super stubborn I could argue with this one a little bit too. I do think this label fits my personality better than any other, but now I am less special because the world has developed a personality type to describe weirdos like me. I was okay with Weird but the label was too loose I suppose.