Are You an Only Child?

I have one brother who is several years older than me, so from the age of 11 on I was an only child. I have also have step brothers and sisters, but none that lived with us full time. I am slightly extroverted, I enjoy doing things with friends, ran with a strong group in high school, but also enjoy spending time alone. I find social situations easy to deal with, originally a philanthropist, now becoming more of a misanthrope, and therefore more introverted.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by poet1b]

Supercool thread.

Yes, only child here. I cherish my alone time. I often stay up late after my husband and my young daughter go to bed to get this needed time. They will often go and do things togeather like go to the park or play xbox and I do my own thing.

Crowds totally freak me out. You should see me at the Indy 500, I'm a wreck - no pun intended. It's like I can pick up on the energy or something. Makes me feel dirty lol

I was often tagged as stuck up or worse. And yes, that was not my intent. I'm just shy.

I have one friend and she's an extream extrovert and doesn't understand me. She doesn't see how I can have fun going to the movies alone or wherever. I've even gone to amusment parks by myself I like to do it alone whatever it is. I can go where I want, leave when I want, sit where I want and hell, I think I'm pretty darn good company.

I enjoy doing puzzles, reading, watching movies, playing rpgs, cooking and just getting into drawing. I went to a threapist after I had to fight doctors and take my mom off life support. She asked what I liked to do and I listed these things and she said 'these are all things you do alone can you name something you do for fun with other people?' I stiffled a laugh and thought yeah, sex, hee hee but didn't say that. Point being, I don't find it abnormal - for me, it's always been the normal.

After being in the rat race and rising to upper management, I'm now a stay at home mom and totally in element. I get puzzled looks from other moms and they ask how I can stand it being at home all day. I love it!!

Thanks for the post. I've really enjoyed reading everyones responses too.

I'm an only child too, and an introvert (INFP).

While I enjoy the company of some people, I NEED my hours of solitude. I become emotionally unstable if I'm in the company of too many people for too long.

I guess I've been qualified as weird a few times... Although I don't exactly dress excentrically nor practice witchcraft in my spare time, I do have what others might think of as strange tastes and hobbies.

Thanks for the thread! While I was not surprised to find out that there are a lot of ats-ers who are introverts, I am kinda surprised to see how many are also only children. I never thought of whether being an only child affects our personalities...

Another only child here and my daughter is also an only child .In my 20's and 30's I was however EXTREMELY extrovert! When I hit my 40's the complete opposite happened and I became almost reclusive.It probably co-incided with my becoming a conspiracy theorist funny enough.I have since about the age of 7 always been interested in things outside the box and have never had any interest in celebrity or things along that line.I also find I cannot tolerate close-minded people.Also I find sharing things quite difficult.

Originally posted by uk today
Another only child here and my daughter is also an only child .In my 20's and 30's I was however EXTREMELY extrovert! When I hit my 40's the complete opposite happened and I became almost reclusive.It probably co-incided with my becoming a conspiracy theorist funny enough.I have since about the age of 7 always been interested in things outside the box and have never had any interest in celebrity or things along that line.I also find I cannot tolerate close-minded people.Also I find sharing things quite difficult.

Probably not quite a coincidence as one could imagine.