The Written Podcast: A Locked Down Introvert

There are two types of introvert: those who prefers to stay indoors and only go out when necessary, and those who occasionally goes outside, but prefers to do so alone (or with friends, but only with the same friends, never going to some place where interacting with strangers is required). I very much fall into the latter category. I used to fall within the confines of the first category where I very rarely went outside, but over time my confidence sneaked into the second. I am an introvert and I do go outside, but when I do, I enjoy my own company – case and point; last October I went to New York City. I was able to do what I wanted, when I wanted, and enjoy my holiday.

When the UK went into lockdown on 27^th March 2020, it was a weird experience for everyone. A countrywide lockdown has never happened, and it was noted by a few online communities that the introverts are celebrating because they do not need to interact with the outside world for an extended period. It was noted that they would forever keep themselves occupied and never get bored as they would do what they always do when inside the house. In fact, a colleague of mine at the place where I work quipped that I would be the only person who’d enjoy being lockdown because I’d get a lot of writing done, and in truth I have gotten a lot of writing done, but I never acknowledged I’d be happy about being stuck in doors. Sounds antonymous, doesn’t it?

For three weeks I have written and edited, subsequently completing what I had scheduled to take a couple of months as I had to weave it around work life. I kept myself busy by completing two of my projects and make good progress with a third. In between writing and editing, I’ve been recording and editing videos for myself and watching an incredible amount of TV. I have not gotten bored once during this lockdown. If anything, a couple of times I became a little indecisive as what to do as I wanted to maximise as much as I could. I made sure to stay home and safe by keeping my creative mind active.

But, the fact that I am only able to get on with my projects is due to a country lockdown and if the pandemic never happened, I’d still be going to work and shuffling my projects around to maximise what time I had between work and bed. The hypothetical situation many have expressed about staying at home all day but still getting paid has now come true, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. Our hypothetical situation didn’t involve being locked down; it involved being able to go outside to wherever, whenever we wanted. Therefore, some extroverts are eager to get back to work, and introverts like me aren’t necessarily missing going outside, we’re missing the opportunity to go outside. Whilst we would spend 99% of the time indoors if given the chance, that remaining 1% involves getting out and about just to clear the cobwebs between the ears, to have a different change in scenery for a couple of hours, be on our own, because we are introverts after all.

For me, it's during that 1% I get a lot of my inspiration for my ideas for blog posts, short stories, and books. Being locked down has given me the opportunity to work on the projects I'd started - and I have finished a couple of them - but generating brand new ideas have dried up quite considerably. In other words, being an imaginatively productive introvert means that I prefer staying in doors to write down the ideas I've collected by going outside during that 1% I've decided to do so.

But whoever we are, the reason for all of us having to stay indoors is the wrong one. Regardless of whether we are extroverts who are itching to go outside or introverts who are taking this lockdown in their stride, we must all do our bit in combating the Coronavirus. I may miss going to the cinema, but if we do not pull together by staying in our own homes, only going outside when absolutely necessary, then we’ll all be missing what we enjoy doing outside for a lot longer than we'd like to, and soon even introverts of both variants will go stark raving bonkers.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)