Trying to figure things out...

I thought certain personality traits were supposed to be ingrained in people, as in that's the way you are and it can't be changed. The trait that I find the most interesting in my life is introversion/extroversion. Through childhood, high school, and college(the first time around) I was a textbook introvert. I took the Myers Briggs personality type indicator in college and scored very high as an introvert. And the description fit me perfectly. I would rather be alone most of the time, than with other people. Being around a lot of new people made me very anxious. At the end of a tough day or week, I wanted to go home, close my door, and play video games or read to help me relax. The idea of doing any kind of job that required me to meet people totally turned me off. And I was a real analytical thinker, into mathematics and computer science, so being an introvert was OK with me. Most of the great inventors and scientists were introverts, so I was very comfortable with who I was.

Then something happened. It may or may not be related to a job that I had to take doing commission-only sales. It was the only job that I could get, and I really needed the money. The job required me to pitch products to complete strangers day after day. Well, I lasted for about three months before finding a different job.

A few years down the road, I realized that I enjoy meeting new people and look forward to going out, and to parties, etc. Before long, I start actually needing interaction with people. Then one day, I come to the realization that I am now one of the people that has to being talking to think. It's awful. If I have a difficult technical problem to solve, I just can't sit down and think really hard about it. My brain doesn't work that way anymore. Now, I have to seek out some other person who will listen to me talk about the problem, then usually something will connect in my head and I'll come up with a solution.

And when it comes to meeting new people, just drop me in a room full of total strangers and I'm happy. I'm so extroverted now that it drives my wife nuts. Once after starting a conversation with a guy in Wal-mart my wife asked me, "Did you know that guy?" I explained that, no, I didn't know him, but his sweatshirt had the name of a college that is in a state I used to live in, so I felt like we had a connection. In a New York City restaurant once, my wife was horrified when I tried to strike up a conversation with a guy at another table because he was wearing a jacket that had the logo of a team that I like on it (turns out he wasn't a fan of the team, just had the jacket).

So, my questions are: (1) Do I want to be an extrovert?, and (2) Could I change back if I wanted to?

Oh, and I did take the Myers Briggs two years ago. Sure enough, this time I scored extremely high as an extrovert.