Coming On Strong, Going Pink

Recently I talked about being an introvert. Which I am. But being an introvert doesn’t mean you hide in your room all day, reading books and watching Netflix (though it does have its appeal at times). It just means after a certain period of time I have to return to a place where I can recharge internally, which often means hiding in my room reading books and watching Netflix.

I remember in college I took one of those personality tests. The most popular iteration at that time being the Red, White, Blue, Yellow color test. I scored a majority white, but second place yellow. White and Blue are the more sensitive types. Reds are the power executive types, getting it done. Yellows are the fancy free and fun-loving types. This test tries to claim you’re always the color you were as a child, but I’m a firm believer that a person can change, especially since we’re constantly exposed to stimuli that can change us.

I used to live with a girl who was a strong Red personality. She couldn’t see the sense in worrying about the tender feeling stuffs. Just get it done. Upon first glance, one would think that’s not the best personality to have, but I’ve come to find that each personality has its strengths. And again, we are all unique human beings with differing personalities that are allowed to and do change.

Point being, I feel the red in her rubbed off on me as the white in me rubbed off on her. Now I think of myself as a pink. White most of the time, red when I need to be.

In social situations, having been the quiet, shy reserved type, I saw the value of red getting things done. So even though I may be exhausted when I get home, I let red take control which transforms me from introvert to perceived extrovert stage.

Point being, I tend to come on strong. Which I often forget can freak some people out. I’m more like:

And less like:

But the newly found red in me can’t see why I should waste my time being so reserved when there are people to be met (supposedly). Something that drives me absolutely nuts about the area I live is there are hordes of us singles who know we are single and gather together for the purpose of doing something about that singleness and then end up not actually going out and engaging with anyone new.

So here comes a pink like me whose ready to cut through awkward red tape. After all, we’re not in high school anymore. We’re not even in college anymore for some time.

Why is it, then, that when I’m all:

People purposely gathered for the same reason as me are like:

It drives me absolutely mad. Maybe it’s because I grew up shy and I know that staying inside yourself does not help socially. Maybe it’s because I know it’s hard, but if you just try, you will eventually get over that fear and that difficulty. Maybe it’s because why bother coming to a SOCIAL activity if you have no intention of being social. Or maybe most obnoxious of all, if you have a hard time being social that you reject the interactions of those attempting to break through that awkward ice in the first place.

Ay ya . . . this turned into Rantsville without me even knowing it.

So pink. Pink! The point is I learned to utilize the tools I saw my Red friend using. And since I’ve experienced the success of just getting things done I can’t help but feel my White has actually gone a little Pink.

Anyways, even though many people did this:

I did meet a few people who did this:

One even told me they appreciated that I was trying to meet new people. She also felt like too many were stuck in their own shells or their own cliques. My question is, why would you deny yourself more friends? After all, if I think over the past of all the friends I’d had, I wouldn’t trade any of those memories for the world.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just living in some strange area of the universe infected by the Twilight Zone.

But what do you think? Do you often experience the same sort of thing? Or are you one of those running away? What would you do in the same situation? What color are you?