On the surface, Cheryl Strayed seems like your typical introvert—abstaining from prolonged human interaction. In her memoir Wild, Strayed recounts the demise of her cancer-laden mother and its effect on her. In order to heal, she treks 1,100 miles across the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) for three months. With no hiking experience, she spends weeks alone with her hiking companion “Monster”—Strayed’s pack. She even hikes ahead or behind hikers she meets. However, when her emotions are heightened, Strayed instinctively reacts like an extrovert.
Instincts are a key indicator for personality because the body taps into the best qualities it believes are necessary to survive. The following is information collected by Charles W. Bryant: “…when [humans are] stressed or staring danger in the face… [Their] impulses intensify” (Bryant). This means that the temperaments we were born with are brought to the forefront, stripping away what we’ve obtained from our environments. Applying this to Cheryl Strayed, when her blood pressure starts to skyrocket, her extroversion will take over. This is from the process known as evolution. It takes years to …show more content…
But when the chips are down, I am willing to bet she falls on the extroverted side of the spectrum. The ways that she reflexively deals with adversity gives overwhelming evidence as to how her brain is naturally configured. Cheryl even considers herself to be an “extroverted hermit” (Connors). She might act like a hermit because she knows the trouble her extroversion has caused her, but she needs to recharge after being in solitude for so long. The trip itself was to get away from her self-destructive behavior. Perhaps another way of putting this is Strayed is a pseudo-introvert (Cain 246); this is an extrovert that displays qualities of an introvert. But, when she is filled with adrenaline and has no say, Strayed is an
Instincts are a key indicator for personality because the body taps into the best qualities it believes are necessary to survive. The following is information collected by Charles W. Bryant: “…when [humans are] stressed or staring danger in the face… [Their] impulses intensify” (Bryant). This means that the temperaments we were born with are brought to the forefront, stripping away what we’ve obtained from our environments. Applying this to Cheryl Strayed, when her blood pressure starts to skyrocket, her extroversion will take over. This is from the process known as evolution. It takes years to …show more content…
But when the chips are down, I am willing to bet she falls on the extroverted side of the spectrum. The ways that she reflexively deals with adversity gives overwhelming evidence as to how her brain is naturally configured. Cheryl even considers herself to be an “extroverted hermit” (Connors). She might act like a hermit because she knows the trouble her extroversion has caused her, but she needs to recharge after being in solitude for so long. The trip itself was to get away from her self-destructive behavior. Perhaps another way of putting this is Strayed is a pseudo-introvert (Cain 246); this is an extrovert that displays qualities of an introvert. But, when she is filled with adrenaline and has no say, Strayed is an