“Take a seat, mate,” said the barber with a giant neck tattoo.
I quietly died inside.
Not because of the little skin this man had left on his body, but because — of course — only I (a hardcore introvert) would get my hair cut by the bubbliest, chattiest guy in the entire shop after successfully evading him for weeks on end.
Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy a chat with the boys as it’s usually only ever 15-20 minutes or so, which even I can handle.
Then there are the ‘other times’.
By that, I mean, those times when you just want to close your eyes and retreat to the inner sanctum of your mind — unbothered by questions outside of whether my hair was a good length or not.
Well, my dear disciple. Today was one such day.
And guess what?
I chatted with this bloke not just for 15-20 minutes, but 45!
We spoke about everything from parenthood to fear of flying, to school fines for taking kids on holiday outside of term time. It was quite impressive just how much we covered in that time.
But the thing that shocked me most?
I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT.
Most extroverts drain me of my life force (if you know you know), but this guy did the opposite.
He energised me.
He was enthusiastic, forward-thinking, optimistic, and always finding the humour in situations (all the things I am in my deepest, most hallucinogenic dreams). He even managed to get my name and my bank’s PIN code out of me.
The man was a wizard. 🧙♂️
Well, almost.
While he didn’t actually extract my PIN, he did earn himself a generous tip and a loyal customer. Such is the power of an extrovert — and one, I must confess, I am envious of.
Why so?
Because here’s the cold, hard truth introverts hate to admit:
Life gets WAY easier when you have connections.
Yet you can only make connections by putting yourself out there, which many clams (myself included) really have a hard time with. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it.
We simply prefer not to.
Sadly, life scarcely rewards those who stay in their comfort zones.
And yes, I am well aware this email got philosophical real quick, but who knows, perhaps someone needed to read this?
That doesn’t mean we introverts don’t have our own superpowers.
Oh, God no.
We’re usually quite attentive… have deeper, more meaningful connections with others… exert greater empathy… and a host of other traits that can be assets in the workforce and life.
Traits that Alere from The Divided Region possesses in spades.
While he’s not as confident as his close friend (and the main character of the series), Darius, he provides the other characters with a calmer, cooler perspective that can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
And let me tell you…
The struggle between life and death gets no more real than in The Great Betrayal.
I won’t divulge exactly what goes down, but what I will say is that it requires cool heads and hearts — even from characters that have it in buckets.
The question is, given the events that take place…
Can they?
Well, you’ll have to find out for yourself here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/The-Great-Betrayal
DJJW