It looks like being an introvert in 2013 is what twerking should have been during the ’99 and 2000. I don’t know who lit the match, but it’s all I’ve been seeing on the interwebs. In the Fast Company network alone, there have been four articles written on how to deal with introverts (and extroverts) and how to spot the signs to tell if you’re an introvert like you’re breaking down the symptoms to your unknown disease on WebMD.

Then the big sites like Huffington Post and Buzzfeed started to make their lists from it. And you know, once it’s on Buzzfeed then it’s like Internet gentrification. Everybody wants a piece of the inside so we can tell our friends over drinks how cool and misunderstood we are because BF said it’s true.

They say sh*t like this:

(And what’s with their fascination with cats?)

And this:

What does this have to do with anything?

Here’s the thing about being an introvert that people seem not to get as of late. It’s not a thing we can just turn on and off. It’s not something you can fake, like being a nerd and buying glasses or whatever the next wave will be.

If you have to proclaim that you’re an introvert, I mean screaming it so loudly people can hear you, you’re not an introvert. Actually, you just may be a narcissist.

In case you ABSOLUTELY MUST KNOW how we work, take a look at these tips:

1. We will arrive late and leave early to your function. We’re sorry. But it took a lot of willpower just to make it there.

2. We think. A LOT. So when you see us with a serious look on our face we’re cool and copacetic. Don’t ask if we’re okay.

3. Look, we introverts just like our own company. That doesn’t mean that we don’t like being in your company. We just don’t want it at that moment. I personally have to build myself up to be around certain people. If one of my friends seems to be on 10 all of the time (hell, they can even be a seven or eight), I have to prepare myself mentally to be around them. You know how your friends are and you know how you feel when you’re around them. That’s not to say that it’s a bad thing, but it’s real.

4. We’re not antisocial bah humbug hermits. We love adventure of all sorts outside of the comfort of our four walls. We just need time to recuperate when we’re done. Is that too much to ask for?

The only real thing to take from it all is to leave us be, and we’ll come around when we’re ready. Get over it.

Ariel Cherie has been an introvert since ’85. Follow her on Twitter @arielcherie.

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