“Are you an introvert or an extrovert?”

I hate this question. While these traits are part of our psychology, and very little of our psychology has hard rules, I’ve never heard introversion and extroversion placed on any kind of spectrum — you’re one or the other.

I’ve generally considered myself an introvert. And since reading Quiet, Susan Cain’s incredible book on the subject, I accepted it more. As a whole, I am more introverted than not.

The problem is that these labels are so binary, there is no middle ground, and both options come with their own associated stigmas.

Based on my better-than-average understanding of the subject, I’m a mix of both. Although my introversion plays a bigger role, I have extroverted traits. And if I were to guess a very un-scientific number, it would probably be somewhere around 70/30.

However, trying to explain that “I’m mostly introverted but sometimes extroverted and also a little of both at the same time…” gets exhausting. It’s much easier just to pick the one that stands out.

So introvert it’s been.

That is until a friend, while having a conversation about the topic, mentioned that she is an omnivert. In her case, she figures about 50/50.

Now, I don’t love unscientific catchphrases for scientific things. In my bit of research on the topic, I have found nothing hinting that this has come from any proper studies or journals. The same can be said for related terms on the concept, such as centrivert and ambivert.

However, I’ll make an exception this time — this is more about conversation and social experience than diagnosis. And omnivert has a nice ring to it.

While the direct question doesn’t often arise, the concept comes up quite often in the conversations I have with curious people. The idea of omniversion gives me a power card. When the introvert in me wants a quick answer to get things moving along to avoid awkward small talk, the extrovert in me has something interesting to discuss.

At the very least, now I can give an answer that pleases both sides of myself and not have to worry about boxing myself into a stereotype.