In a hundred years, the labels "introvert" and "extrovert" have leapt from Jungian psychology into the realm of personality tests and horoscopes: ways to tell yourself, and the world, What Kind of Person You Are. You risk over-identifying with a set a characteristics cloaked in a semi-medical terminology, which makes it sound more real and immovable.
Yowei Shaw, host of Proxy, believes herself to be an introvert. But over the years, she's begun to wonder whether her introversion is really core to who she is, or a byproduct of how she was raised and the expectations projected onto her. Which raises the question: Can you change something as supposedly fundamental about yourself as your introversion?
Shaw wanted to try. On this episode of Try Hard, she puts herself out there by emceeing a Lunar New Year party for her community, and in the meantime tries to find a version of performance that feels authentic to her.
You can listen to Try Hard wherever you get your podcasts: RSS here, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify (if you must). Send me voice memos of the things you're trying at podcasts@defector.com or message me on Instagram @alexlaughs.
