Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Are you surprised by your answer? Did you know about the term ~ ambivert? It describes a balance between the two extremes. It provides us with a concept that allows for some balance in life and that brings me such peace. When I discovered that concept it was a revelation because polarisations and generalisations are often unhelpful. The reason I mention these things is because when I was with Ivy Madeline, I was definitely the extrovert and she the introvert. She was the quietest woman I have ever encountered! Even from being a tiny tot, I can remember doing all the talking when I was with her. Her ability to listen, discern and lead by example was exceptional. Therefore, if you’re an introvert in need of an example then Ivy is your girl!
Now here is the really interesting part…how does someone so physically delicate and socially calm take herself off to China to learn the language in a year, run a mission hospital and be the one that everybody runs towards to solve every kind of problem? How does that shy little soul become the young woman who takes herself off to plead for members of her team who were taken unjustly by the occupying Japanese forces? How does that little lass from a poverty-stricken home with an alcoholic father end up in the Gorbals delivering babies in the tenements? How does that quiet girl end up in Moorfield’s Hospital removing shards of glass from ruined eyes? How does she end up in Penshaw in a little bungalow with a little chatterbox tomboy at her side? How… well… Ivy’s story is not only inspiring, it is reassuring. It tells of how no matter how much trouble is thrown at you in life, there is the hope that you can rise. It illustrates that circumstances do not have to define you and that your attitude and actions are all that matters in the end.
It shows that the labels other people impose upon you are of little power when you set your own soul’s agenda and then work like mad to make it a reality.
Therefore, my introverted, extroverted or somewhere in the middle kind of pal … Ivy set the tone that it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do with that which you have. What matters is how you react to challenge and injustice. What matters is you and yours with your best efforts in life.
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