There seems to be a long held myth that if you love books, you must be introverted. You must love to stay at home, cozy with a book. But I am hear to burst some bubbles.

I moved to Melbourne at the end of 2019. It was supposed to be my next big adventure – start a PhD, travel the Southern hemisphere some more, and meet new great people! Not give you any spoilers here, but I only really did one of those things… Since the lockdowns began in March last year for Victoria, I feel like it has changed not only the way we do things formally, but also how open we are to meeting new people and going out. Now, for almost seven months, we couldn’t really do anything, but even now with restrictions fairly low, I just keep asking myself, ‘How do I meet new people?’ Now, I do want to say that I have some friends in Melbourne – for that, I am forever grateful. But I also have to be real, they have their own lives and I see them maybe once every four to six weeks.

As a lover of books, I often feel that people perceive me as an introvert. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes I need my ‘me’ time. I do love a bit of self-indulgent alone time to be creative, or lazy, or just whatever. But I love people. I need to be around people every day, but right now, the only person I see regularly is my husband. And sadly, one person doesn’t really cut it for us extroverts.

I don’t know how to make friends in a new city that has spent most of the last year in lockdown and finds itself in a snap lockdown again. Life is feels staccato right now. The usual ways of groups and sports seem so foreign when we can barely have five people over for dinner. I feel lonely, caged. University’s have us working from home, teaching online, and everything is digital. Another Teams/Zoom meeting where someone can’t figure out how to un-mute themselves, and I might actually lose it.

So why might an extrovert like me be drawn to books? Well, I cannot speak for everyone, but books are like my friends (cue the Sarah Mclachlan music). It makes me feel like I can meet new people, every day, albeit in the pages of a book. I hope one day to turn it around and actually make some more friends here, but for now this extroverted book worm has her books.

Today’s post is not the usual book blog content, but sometimes you just got to be a bit vulnerable. For anyone struggling in lockdowns and feeling lonely – I see you. And I hope my blog can bring you some joy. Shout out in the comments below if you are an extroverted book lover. As always, share the reading love.