Sounds like heaven, right? And it may well be to people who are outgoing and find it easy to be around other people. I watch in awe as people I admire and respect banter back and forth. I make my own little tweets and my heart soars when I get a reply or a direct message. And yeah, I realize how pathetic that sounds, but you have no idea how much courage it takes for me to hit that send button. I can write no problem, but actually sharing that writing in a place where there’s a chance that someone’s not gonna like it… that’s one of the hardest things for me to do. And while I’m getting better at it and it gets a little easier every time, there are still too many days when I would much rather crawl into my little hidey-hole and stay there.

Therein lies my dilemma. I know that to have an effective presence on twitter or any other social network I need to be there interacting with people on a regular basis. I also know that I need to be sharing at least some of what I’m doing and thinking so that people can get to know me better, and lemme tell ya, that idea is almost a deal breaker here. I’m so used to being in the background, and living basically alone that I telling people what I’m up to is a totally foreign concept.

So my question is this…

If your natural inclination is to be more isolationist than social, how do you do it? How do you overcome those anti-social tendencies and interact with others on those days when you just can’t handle the thought of talking to another person?

If I’m coming across as melodramatic, I’m sorry. It sounds over the top even to me, but I really want to know. More like need to know because this is something that I struggle with on a daily basis, and it’s something that I really want to overcome.

Please leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. I’d love to hear your take on this, and as always, introvert and extrovert points of view are welcome.