The oyster is my world
Sharing the pearls of introversion
I never get bored when I’m left to myself. My thoughts always take me someplace. They are my means of escape. Just as my 10-year-old son gets restless for action, and anxious to get outside, my mind is always eager to take me out too, though I might remain inside.
Not long ago my curiosity prompted me to explore the subject of pearls. I watched a few pearl hunter videos, and read about how pearls come into existence.
Irritation at intrusion is what starts the pearl formation process. The mollusk inside the oyster starts coating the intruder — a particle referred to as an irritant — with layers and layers of nacre.
As an introvert, I also get irritated at intrusion. I keep my shell firmly shut. What I do let in will be covered in reflection and matured into pearls of wisdom. Just as with physical pearls, these can take years to form. There is no excited hurry — it’s a quiet, serene process. Many pearls can form in the same oyster at the same time, and can have different colours.
I watched how pearl hunters open the oyster with a knife, exposing the ugly mollusk that produces such beauty. Often, the pearls are not even visible until the person makes the mollusk give them up by applying pressure to it. Nothing like the pretty animations picturing a shell with a soft cushion and a pearl in the middle, or like the image I generated using AI. Insides can be ugly, and maybe that’s one reason introverts avoid exhibiting them. They want to keep their intimacy.
But what about sharing the beauty within? It would be a shame to keep it to oneself, hidden between those shells.
As an introvert, I’m slowly learning, like the pearl formation process, that opening up and sharing my rich inner life will not impoverish me. It will not strip me of my pearls, but allow their luster to come forth and be a delight to others, and that thought is rather satisfying.
