Butterfly or Bear?

I keep on hearing that we human beings are social animals. So then I ask myself, why is it that I am sometimes happiest, holed away at home, existing through a day-to-day routine developed by me, and sometimes not even jutting my nose out the door? I like nothing better than to be inside with a Do Not Disturb sign affixed. Unfortunately my two littlies ignore this sign consistently.

In fact, if it wasn't for my two children I think I could spend days at a time indoors and be perfectly happy. I wasn't always like this. Or was I? This is a question I keep asking myself. Have I always been so insular?

I don't think it's particularly good to be this way, especially when you do go outside and find yourself rapidly blinking from the bright light. In fact on those days that I do make an effort I always come away with some sense of exhilaration from having had some kind of human contact. But maybe this is so, because of having days on end at home prior to venturing out of doors?

The other thing is that I'm not socially shy. I can hold my end of a conversation. I can also usually fill in the gaps left in a conversation. This then makes me think that I'm at odds with myself. Take the other day for example. The kids were dropped off at daycare and I easily spent a half hour there stopping to chat with various carers as I slowly exited the building. I always have something to say. This was followed by two chatty phone calls. Then I went and visited another mum who is recuperating from an operation. All before lunch! I was quite tired in the afternoon, consequently spending two hours watching television recordings of my choosing. I loved it. Maybe even more so than the conversations I'd had earlier in the morning.

So, yes, we probably are social animals at best, but I think that we also would like to be a bit like bears who hibernate through winter. All for one's sanity of course. Or at least mine.