I use a lot of old-fashioned expressions.

I get a lot of letters from introverts asking how they can meet people. The key is to make sure that you are doing things you enjoy.

Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree.

We know from myths and fairy tales that there are many different kinds of powers in this world. One child is given a light saber, another a wizard's education. The trick is not to amass all the different kinds of power, but to use well the kind you've been granted.

Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor of a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're "in your head too much", a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Or maybe there's another word for such people: thinkers.

A widely held, but rarely articulated, belief in our society is that the ideal self is bold, alpha, gregarious. Introversion is viewed somewhere between disappointment and pathology.

I'm continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts.