Commuting via public transportation is, by far, my best mode of transportation. As an introvert, I love observing people. I get to create stories just by watching them. With the training I got from Special Education, I can sense if a person, for example, is impatient, nervous, or experiencing suppressed agitation based on subtle gestures like fidgeting with a pen.

When I notice these signs, I take it as a cue to lighten up the mood or environment by joking or making the person feel more at ease. In most cases, words may pacify the person but sometimes, a quick touch or pat on the back will do. But I only do this when I know the person well enough. There are others who cringe at the slightest bit of touch, especially if they have a history of physical abuse and trauma.

Stories are all around when you commute via public transportation. May it be from a plantita carrying plants to a child seated in front of you who can’t stop staring at you. Or that teenage couple flirting with one another oblivious of the people around them, and a whole lot more.

A couple of months back, when I rode the shuttle to Sorsogon City to buy my bus ticket going to Manila, I got to observe a new set of stories. And I can’t help but smile. If only I can read their thoughts. I normally don’t engage in conversations with strangers. But, if they initiate talking to me first, I do entertain them.

Just like the pedicab drivers who I happened to have a little chit-chat about their families, what’s new in town, etc. I love these conversations because I get to ask them a lot of questions, and I get to learn a lot from them.

I found out from one pedicab driver that he’s a cousin of one of our former house helpers whom I haven’t seen since I was 10 years old. I grew so fond of her since I am the youngest in the family and when my siblings studied in Manila, I was left all alone at home and our house help sort of became my best friend.

Then I also met another pedicab driver who has a visual impairment because he is cross-eyed. And I tried to figure out how he maneuvered his pedicab without getting into any kind of road accident. When I gave him the fare, I told him to keep the change. I smiled when he started wiping his pedicab with the money I gave him. He smiled at me and told me the money I gave him was a “buena mano.”

It is customary in the province that the money paid by their first customer is said to bring good luck. So what they would do is they will wipe the things they are selling using the money from their first customer to attract good luck or “buena mano.”

You are most probably wondering now why I prefer pedicabs instead of tricycles. I prefer pedicabs because they allow me to slow down time in between errands. I tend to be like Flash when doing errands – I target finishing everything as fast as I can so I can go home. lol

But this is actually what I love as an introvert. I seldom go out of the house, but when I do crave social interaction, I got to give my best to people – my best smile, my best attitude, and my best service. Once my introvert battery though is depleted, it’ll take me about a week to recharge.

That one week of recharging is where I am in my most creative state. Everything that I heard and saw from these brief moments of social interaction, I get to process every single, nitty-gritty detail about them. I call this creative process as a retrospective way of giving everything that transpired an intrinsic value.

So no, I don’t follow the norms when they say that when you are an introvert, you have to change and become more like an extrovert when you go outside. Leave us be. 😀✌️

We were created to be this way because, without artists, life will be too logical. Though life without logic will be too emotional. Just like how the arts and sciences were made to coexist, the same goes for introverts and extroverts. Let us be. ♥️