What I Learned From an Evening With Batman
Let’s talk about Batman for a minute.
I regard Batman as the most hardcore of all superheroes. I’m a fan of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy for two main reasons: One, because the story of the Dark Knight is told in a truly astounding way. Two, Christian Bale plays Batman. That is great, too. I actually had a dream once that I married him. The colors were black and white, he wore his Batman getup, and our ceremony was held in the Batcave. It was one of the greatest (and weirdest) dreams I’ve ever had.
Okay, here’s where I’m going with this. As much as I love this movie series, I discovered that being involved with on-screen actors cannot replace my need for contact with people. I spent last Friday night snuggled up on my couch with food and the TV, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that I felt like I should have been hanging out with someone. There are always random adventures happening around campus, and I wanted to go be a part of something.
I have always assumed that I am an extreme introvert because I prefer not to be the center of attention, I have always maintained a smaller group of friends, and I prefer to hang out in a low-key setting. I will gladly watch movies all day long or spend hours in a coffee shop. After looking up the actual definitions of these terms, however, I discovered the extrovert outweighs the introvert in me. Here’s what I found after looking into this a bit:
Introverts gather their energy from solitude. They recharge their batteries by spending time alone with their thoughts and their own favorite activities. They solve problems by spending a lot of time processing events internally and eventually reaching a conclusion.
Extroverts receive energy through interaction with other people. They feel refreshed after spending time with those they care about. When solving problems, they tend to talk to the people they trust in order to gather opinions and reach the best possible conclusion through processing things using several points of view.
After my evening with Batman and entirely too much junk food, I found myself craving a real person to talk to. I wanted to go on a hike, play board games, basically anything as long as there were people involved. I called as many people from my hometown as I could to try and catch up with them, only to realize that it was midnight and no one was awake. It was then that the restlessness really set in. I paced around the apartment for a bit and eventually decided to clean things. I have a rule against cleaning things on a Friday night, so let the weight of that sink in for a moment.
As I’ve reflected on that experience, I realize that a huge part of living life in college involves personal discovery. You learn more about yourself and try to grow as an individual by trying new things and meeting new people. I knew that I would learn a lot from the random adventures that occur at CBU, but I’m learning to appreciate the down time as well. When I have time to myself, I should take advantage of it by making sure I am caught up on homework. I could especially use that time to go over my experiences that week and think about how they affected me. I think it is good to maintain a balance between introversion and extroversion. We can learn from time alone as well as from time spent with friends.
On another, completely unrelated note, I feel the need to address the coming of autumn (FINALLY!!!) As a Northern California girl, I eagerly await the chillier weather here in the usually sunny SoCal. Praise God for ground covered in crunchy leaves!
Happy Fall, everyone!
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