ON BEING AN INTROVERT

Introverts are an interesting bunch, I tell you what. They super are.

This weekend Nathan and I tried to adventure into ULTA - a beauty supply shop - on Saturday. I feel as though this is something that a normal girl would be over the moon about! Yay! My man is buying me some makeup! The possibilities are endless!

But instead, I walked in trailing behind Nathan - immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume of products. If you know anything about me, you know that a makeup guru I am not! I looked around at all the aisles and my mind went blank.

Why was I even there? What did I need? Who did I think I was, walking into that store knowing almost nothing about make up!?

You'd think, maybe, that since I am an artist I would be all about the makeups. However, as much as I would love to learn more about make up, it's really not something I'm super passionate about. I like to cover up my red spots and even out my skin tone, and I do like a good smokey eye - but when it comes to types of products and differing brands, I am at a total loss.

But these types of places offer consultations of sorts to try out different looks and products to see what you like and what looks good on your skin tone. This is a cool service, but somehow I don't know how to go about asking for it. I hate feeling like I'm imposing on someone, or being demanding. So, I freaked a little bit.

I didn't know what I was doing in that store. I felt so totally out of place and it made me feel ridiculously uncomfortable. I just wanted to leave, but I tried to look around anyway and see if there was anything that spoke to me.

After what felt like an eternity of aimlessly wandering around different aisles, (it was probably only maybe five to seven minutes) a saleslady with a fabulous purple shade of lipstick asked if I needed help with anything. She was very nice and asked me if I could help even to narrow down what I wanted, but I panicked. I couldn't think of anything. I didn't have a game plan, I didn't know what I wanted, and I really just wished I could turn invisible or bolt out of the store.

But instead I just whined that I really had no idea what I was even doing there like a child. It was definitely not one of my finer moments. These are the things that happen when I go out in public unprepared to deal with people. Or, more realistically, having dealt with too many people that weekend already and I was just all peopled out.

I mean, normally I handle myself pretty darn well in public. So well that sometimes people say things like "you're an introvert? really?" As if introverts aren't allowed to have well developed social skills or like being around people.

I can do people. I can do crowds. They're not my favorite and I can't do them for long periods of time, but I can be in public and not be the weird girl in the corner. I promise, introverts can be people persons too. But it only lasts for so long.

But back to my story. The purple lipstick clad saleslady took my attitude like a champ. She gave me her card and said that when I was ready, I could give her a call and we would play.

And then I went and sat in the car with Nathan for a while before regaining my composure enough to go into more stores before ultimately heading home and staying in my apartment the rest of the day to avoid any more people, like a true introvert.