The Introverted Vegan: Recent Episodes
Leslie McKerchie
I'm going to be sharing my journey and my passion for personal development in the hopes of inspiring you.
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This is the tenth episode! Can you even believe that? Honestly, I really cannot. The fact that I’m enjoying this is even more surprising. I said that 2018 would be the year for being more vulnerable and this has been a great way for me to kick it off – so what if it took me until the second quarter of the year to get started. My goal with this podcast is to share my journey and my passion for personal development in the hopes of inspiring you – and in case you were wondering, we’re still on the my journey part of this.
I do believe that we covered being an introvert fairly well and hopefully uncovering some of the myths opens up more conversation or exploring as well. As you can see from the title of this episode we’re going to be chatting about intuition. This is something that is super important to me and Dylan gives me too much credit with it by calling it my super power, but that does make it sound kinda cool.
The dictionary defines intuition as:
- the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning
- a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning
No one doubts when a business man makes a decision based on a hunch. Guess what? That’s just another word for intuition. You could also say you had a sense, notion, or gut feeling. Same thing. Notice that both definition mention conscious reasoning, which leads me to note that it must rely on subconscious reasoning or instinct perhaps.
For as long as I can remember I just ‘know’ if I like someone or not. I didn’t have a name for it, but the term “trust your gut” always spun around in my head. So, I’ve always listened to me.
A friend recently pushed back a bit on this with me and to specify – I don’t really know if we’re gonna be friends immediately, but a no is a no and it is immediate. I may not tell you to your face, so please don’t ask, but that little feeling I get or a vibe you give off will not be ignored. If I think you’re lying, that’s a no as well. Yes, a no means no from me too. There’s no reconsidering and I’ve never gotten it wrong – so in my years of experience I’m not going to start doubting myself now.
I’m not always that effective either. Some people may get put on the ‘I don’t know yet’ side of my brain, but the truth will always come out.
So, sounds simple right? It’s not. Especially not being from the South where being polite and courteous are a standard. Which for years caused me to fight with this thought in the back of my mind that I was wrong for judging someone. I mean, I still did it, but politely or silently. I didn’t really tell people my thoughts either because I’d get, “You don’t know that, stop judging them”. Ok, I actually cannot remember a time that someone actually said that to me, but that was probably my assumption and fear talking to me. I told you I’ve been on a personal journey.
So, why am I even sharing this with you? Why does intuition matter?
It matters because I bet you have a little voice that talks to you as well, but are you listening to it? Your subconscious is attempting to guide you, but are you letting your fears, doubts, and other people hold you back?
According to a Psychology Today article, What Is Intuition, And How Do We Use It? by Francis P Cholle, studies now show that only 20 percent of the brain’s gray matter is dedicated to conscious thoughts, while 80 percent is dedicated to nonconscious thoughts. So, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunity if you’re not listening to that 80% of your brain.
I challenge you to pay attention to your intuition as well.
Here’s how you can tune in:
- Mindfulness/Solitude – taking sometime to be alone with yourself and listen to yo
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I hope that the first eight episodes gave you a better understanding of introverts and some of the underlying myths. There is no one size fits all for sure.
Will some people you meet have all the boxes checked for what you ‘think’ defines an introvert – sure. Will they all? Do I? Absolutely not.
I just want to skim over the last few things that come to mind and then we will move on to the next topic. Are you excited?
- Introverts are insecure
Typically this idea stems from the fact that they won’t look you in the eye. Maybe it is an insecurity, but I actually know a lot of people that don’t look others in the eyes. I know, it bugs me too, but that is beside the point. This is another one that doesn’t fit me. If I’m truly in a conversation with you, I will look you in the eye. If you’re lying to me, if the situation is uncomfortable, or if you are not genuine – nope, not happening. Has nothing to do with being insecure, I’m just ready to disconnect from you.
- Introverts are depressed
They want to be left alone, they don’t like going out, they avoid crowds, they’d rather stay home, they don’t get excited, and whatever other stereotypical idea you can plug in here. Self-reflection, looking within, and the ability to actually be alone and enjoy your own company are actually very empowering things. I’d worry more about your friend that cannot do anything by themselves and needs constant attention and approval from others.
- Introverts would be happier if they’d just become more extroverted
This is the kicker y’all. Can you even imagine? Just change your personality. That’ll just solve all the problems that someone ‘thinks’ you have. I mean if someone had the desire to get out and meet more people they could totally do it, but that doesn’t change who they are or the fact that later they will want to take a nice hot bubble bath to unwind.
Again, all that’s based on the assumption that someone isn’t happy in the first place – and we now know that you’re probably totally wrong. Take a look in the mirror next time you’re judging or assuming something about someone (we will talk about this in a future episode).
People can certainly change behavior and habits – I mean that’s part of personal development as well. Even acknowledgement can be powerful – trust me, I know. Once I realized I was actually an introvert and understood what it meant – it was like everything made sense.
I always like to assume good(yep, this will be an episode too) and find the positive, so let’s look at a few of my favorites.
Introverts are:
- Self-aware
- Emotionally strong
- Open minded
- Independent
- Loyal
- Level-headed
So, if you have an introverted friend – hang on tight!
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I cannot imagine life without technology.
I'm a part of that strange Xennial Generation that was named between Generation X and Y. I think the years are defined as 1977 to 1985 and we had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.
I remember party line telephone, black and white TV, rabbit ear antenna, playing outside, imagination, riding bikes everywhere, pre-computer, pre-cellphone, VCRs, walkman, boom boxes, cassette tapes, recording the radio (dang those DJs talked a lot), dinosaur computers, dial up internet, my mom using the answering machine as a caller ID, actual floppy disks, and so much more I'm sure...
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In episode 5, we discussed Analysis Paralysis. That's like the art of overthinking, right?
Overthinking can lead to procrastination and procrastination leads to underachievers, right?
Wrong.
Are Introverts Underachievers?
I'm going to give you a short list of names you may have heard before:
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Public Speaking
If you are in the majority of society, you have some fear or anxiety around this topic. An estimated 75% of people have some form of anxiety or nervousness around public speaking.
If extroverts make up 50-74% of the population, then no math is needed, right? It's not an introvert issue for sure.
Introverts and Public Speaking
I would venture to say that quite the opposite is true. Introverts make great public speakers. Remember in the last episode, we talked about Analysis Paralysis?
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Analysis Paralysis is defined as the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.
The first term that I think about when I hear analysis paralysis is procrastination - putting off decisions and waiting until the last minute.
Procrastination
I used to say that I put the 'pro' in procrastination. I thought this was just a personality trait. First identified in high school and still holding on strong. Yup, still.
I mentioned in the second episode, that coming to know/acknowledge that I'm an introvert is a relatively recent discovery for me.
Analysis Paralysis
You know how we talked about being introspective before? Yep, that can lead to over-thinking for sure.
Let's just take this post/podcast as an example:
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I don't even know that this misconception is just for introverts. I mean...who liked group work during school? Unless you were the one that did nothing of course, and let everyone else do the work. (You know who you are!) Groups are forced interactions though - from school to work - you were put into a group out of your control and made to 'work' together. Oh, except when you were actually given the choice, but because you're the quiet one - you get picked last. No? Just me? Okay... I still do not know what this is training us for. I mean, have you learned anything valuable from this type of activity? If so, please comment and tell me!
Full show notes, behind the scenes, and our community: www.theintrovertedvegan.com
Be sure to visit our show partner at www.mindtoybox.com
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Let's start this off with a few examples. Have you ever looked at someone and they look lik: - they do not have a care in the world?
-
they are totally unapproachable?
-
RBF is your first thought?
-
they seem to never get excited?
Yes, right? Well...that's probably me you saw :)
In our last episode we talked about how introverts look inward, and apparently this can display itself right on your face.
It's not that they don't have feelings, but by being 'non-reactive' to many situations it can be perceived that way.
I'm not going to speak for everyone, but I want to talk about each of the items we opened this episode up with.
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Behind the scenes and community: www.theintrovertedvegan.com
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Hello! My name is Leslie McKerchie and this is the introduction to the podcast.
Where in the heck did the name come from? I mean that's the first question I would have.
So, why this title:
First of all it is personal and descriptive of me...and way more exciting than my name, right?
Then I doubted it:
Is this limiting my audience? Will people feel the need to resonate with these 'words'?
In the end I decided that it is who I am. I'm claiming it!
You may resonate with the title, but if not, that's okay - you do not need to affiliate yourself with either to gain value from what I'll be sharing here.
Full show notes here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-1-to-18204727
Behind the scenes and community: www.theintrovertedvegan.com
Be sure to visit our show partner at www.mindtoybox.com
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I feel like the biggest misconception about introverts is that they are shy. Introvert does NOT equal shy.
Growing up, I thought I was an extrovert. I like people and I’m not shy - so I couldn’t be an introvert, right?
It was like a binary decision - you’re either outgoing/extroverted or you weren't.
So, I’m not shy. I might not be the first one to walk up to start a conversation, but I will talk to you.
I have no problem speaking in front of groups of people or on stage - my background is in corporate training. So, it was very confusing to me and I didn't even realize that I was an introvert until a few years ago when I really started focusing on personal development and my personal journey to get to know myself.
So, why is this such a misconception?
Full Show Notes here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/18204764
Behind the scenes and community: www.theintrovertedvegan.com
Visit our show partner at www.mindtoybox.com
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theintrovertedvegan/support