Dr. V on "the introvert advantage"

Dr. V has a Substack essay on "the introvert advantage." Excerpt:

Social distancing?  I've been doing it all my life. O beata solitudo, sola beatitudo!  Happy solitude, the sole beatitude. How sweet it is, and made sweeter still by a little socializing. Socializing is like whisky. A little is good, but more is not better.

Full lockdown?  I could easily take it, and put it to good use.  It provides an excellent excuse to avoid meaningless socializing with its empty and idle talk. 

I sympathize. I really do. And to a large extent, I agree, being an introvert. But I also know that we introverts, because we live inside our own heads, are susceptible to our own forms of neuroticism and stress. You carry your head wherever you go, after all, so if you've got bats and demons in there, you're shit out of luck. As extraverts know, one way to get rid of those bats and demons is by interacting with others, sharing your mental and emotional burdens. Otherwise, the introvert must rely on ancient techniques like meditation for stress relief. Meditation is nice, but the warmth of simple companionship can be nice, too. My pastor once said, years ago, that introverts have to realize that they live in an extraverted world. This is true; you hear over and over again that "humans are social animals," and the evidence of that is all around. Whatever the reality is, though, I'm still an introvert with a small circle of friends, and that's the kind of life I'm most comfortable with.