I was talking with friends the other day about friendship in general – specifically, introverts and extroverts.

I am an extrovert. Like, an off-the-charts extrovert. I actually have a hard time relating to introverts, even though a lot of my very best friends are quite introverted. (They’re social introverts, but almost all of my best friends define themselves as introverts.) Opposites attract… I guess?

Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash

One of my friends defined herself as an extreme introvert, and mentioned that she can only have a certain number of good friends before she begins to feel overwhelmed. This is an outgoing, social person, so I found this whole concept super intriguing!

I, on the other hand, feel like I could never have too many friends. I mean sure, it’s impossible to be a “good” friend to a bijillion people, but I love trying! I genuinely enjoy meeting people, getting to know them, forming connections, having great conversation with people alike and different from me… the whole thing. I almost never feel overwhelmed by too many people and too many relationships.

This conversation made me wonder… do other people have ‘limits’ on how many friendships they feel comfortable investing in? Does it make a person less of a good friend to people because when they have many friendships they invest in, rather than only a few? Do introverts and extroverts tend to attract each other because of the balance in energies, or are most extroverts friends with extroverts and vice versa?

Help me out with these questions, people, I would love your insights!