I've wanted to be a writer since I was four years old!

In most job interviews, people say they are looking for people skills and emotional intelligence. That's reasonable, but the question is, how do you define what that looks like?

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

Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.

Or at school you might have been prodded to come “out of your shell”—that noxious expression which fails to appreciate that some animals naturally carry shelter everywhere they go, and that some humans are just the same.

Cross the street to avoid making aimless chitchat with random acquaintances.

Should we become so proficient at self-presentation that we can dissemble without anyone suspecting?