ISOLATION FROM TWO PERSPECTIVES
“A sound mind in a sound body” is the expression we often hear. But the pandemic situation put this into question as well. How to maintain healthy mind when the whole world was turning upside down by a rare virus?
Illustration: Argjira Kukaj
While we were all living a quiet and normal life, the unexpected happened. Everyone claimed that 2020 would be a successful year. People had already begun their plans, but soon everything was stopped by a virus that made a name for itself and was dangerous enough to be declared a global pandemic. To prevent further spread everything was closed, it seemed that the whole world faded in the blink of an eye.
Being locked inside the house for a short time, of course, has a great impact on each individual. Nobody likes to isolate, and this concept, although it may seem like a good solution at first, can quickly turn into something difficult to afford. Thus isolation during the pandemic had the same effect. This isolation was even more challenging if we add the pressure of the pandemic situation.
Different types of personalities react differently to such situations. A comparison can be made especially when talking about an introverted person and another extrovert. The idea of introverts and extroverts was first commented on by psychologist Carl Jung in the 1920s, and since then many other scientists have tried to find the most accurate description of these two types of personalities.
In society, an introvert is always perceived as a person who does not talk much, does not react often, and above all a person who enjoys most when he is alone. It’s like that at least in cases when he/she is not in the company of people who feel free with them. The extrovert, on the other hand, fully displays the opposite virtues of an introvert. Someone who is an extrovert enjoys every moment of being surrounded by people. He / she shares every thought, does not hesitate, and always speaks openly. However, according to Jung these two categories cannot be totally different and independent of each other, but are two concepts intertwined and interrelated with each other, because he had said that there can’t be a person who is totally introvert or totally extrovert.
When the news became known that, as in other countries, in Kosovo all spaces will be closed, many people thought that for introverts this is the best thing that could have happened to them. But not all of this can be called accurate, because a study conducted by a group of Virginia-based Greater Divide researchers shows that, moreover, introverts have experienced this closure even more severely than extroverts.
To reach this conclusion, this group of researchers surveyed about a thousand young Americans. From all this it turned out that the reason why introverts experienced the risk of pandemic more severely than extroverts is the fact that extroverts tend to be calmer when faced with any danger as well as many believe and are optimistic that things will always go well.
“Compared to introverts, extroverts tend to experience more frequent and strong positive emotions,” said Christopher Soto, Professor of Personality Psychology at Colby College in Maine. “It makes it easier for them to maintain a positive state in daily life. It also helps them stay optimistic in the face of difficult circumstances, such as the current crisis.”
Such a psychology takes place in many young people, and often when we are in difficult situations we think about how we can “escape” from them. We are often told that we live in a world of technology, where social networks are receiving tremendous attention. Thus, since extroverts usually have a much wider network of friendships to communicate through social networks, this has been a good opportunity to “escape” from the daily routine of isolation. However, this has undoubtedly favored both parties because even introverts not infrequently choose communication between social media instead of going out to socialize, and in the end it turns out that without these social networks the crisis in the pandemic would be perceived much more otherwise.
However, the pandemic really prevented pupils and students from going to school, and workers at work, and all of this was supposed to be replaced through virtual meetings. If we stop at students and ask them what it was like to sit in front of the computer or phone and sit for a pretty long time, most of the answers will be negative. Moreover, in these meetings sometimes you had to speak in front of many other students, and here we know very well who found it more difficult to express themselves.
“It was very challenging,” said one UP student. “When my name was called to speak in front of others, I felt a sense of stress that I wanted to end quickly.”
“As soon as I started talking, my subconscious was filled with the fact that maybe I did not speak well, or I did something wrong,” said another student from the same university.
Consequently, despite the many challenges that can be listed in the diary of online lecture challenges during the pandemic, for an introvert the challenge of speaking in front of others is likely to be listed at the top. And what can we conclude? There are two views, both true and neither correct. Perhaps the challenge has been common to introverts and extroverts, mixed emotions have prevailed all this time, thus making the idea of isolation even more complicated. Either way, one thing is for sure. The individual’s need to feel existent is related to contact with other people. We hope that such a situation of isolation will not be possible further because its consequences on mental health can be much more pronounced, especially in the younger generations.
About the author: Rexhep Kameraj is a 19-year-old boy from Deçan who is studying at the Faculty of Philology in the English Language Department.
This grant is supported by the ‘Civil Society programme for Albania and Kosovo’, financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) in partnership with Partners Albania for Change and Development (PA). The content and recommendations do not represent the official position of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
