I Look Back On My Years As

Evangelicalism Has Taken The Extrovert Ideal To Its Logical Extreme...if You Don't Love Jesus Out Loud, Then It Must Not Be Real Love. It's Not Enough To Forge Your Own Spiritual Connection To The Divine; It Must Be Displayed Publicly.

Though Shyness Per Se Was Unacceptable, Reserve Was A Mark Of Good Breeding.

Schwartz's Research Suggests Something Important: We Can Stretch Our Personalities, But Only Up To A Point. Our Inborn Temperaments Influence Us, Regardless Of The Lives We Lead. A Sizeable Part Of Who We Are Is Ordained By Our Genes, By Our Brains, By Our Nervous Systems. And Yet The Elasticity That Schwartz Found In Some Of The High-reactive Teens Also Suggests The Converse: We Have Free Will And Can Use It To Shape Our Personalities.

The Pressure To Entertain, To Sell Ourselves, And Never To Be Visibly Anxious Keeps Ratcheting Up.

Opposites Attract, And I Think Temperament Is So Fundamental That You End Up Craving Someone Of The Opposite Temperament To Complete You.