The ‘Finland Jokes’ page has been posting memes about what it’s like to be Finnish since way back in 2017. In the half-a-decade since then, the page has carved out a comfortable niche for itself on Instagram, having drawn in 73.1k followers.
Make sure to follow the account on Instagram if the jokes they post made you chuckle, dear Readers.
Most of the memes showcase a slice of Finnish life. From their love of the cold and the great outdoors to learning to embrace the calm, the silence.
It is perhaps this stereotype about Finland, the deep introversion the country’s citizens supposedly live by, that is best known around the world. That and the sweet tooth they have for licorice in all of its forms.
Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Spark from the Queensland University of Technology to have a chat about introversion and extroversion. We asked him about the upsides of extroversion and how introverts feel when pressured to act in a different way than their instincts tell them to.
The expert told us that there are several options that introverts can take to reduce the stress they feel when outside forces are pressuring them to act extroverted.
“We can simply force ourselves to push through it and act out of character (i.e., to act more extroverted),” the expert suggested that powering through an uncomfortable situation is one way to deal with things.
According to Dr. Spark, there are scientifically proven benefits to being extroverted rather than introverted. It’s something that some people might not like hearing, of course. However, there’s also absolutely nothing wrong with being introverted either. Though, at the end of the day, different situations call for different behaviors and mindsets. In short, sometimes it’s very advantageous to act extroverted even if you want to be alone in the middle of a snowy forest.
“Many introverts don’t like hearing this—and I can understand that—but the science is quite clear. When we act extroverted, we experience more positive emotion,” he said, adding that this can, actually, make us feel more tired later on.
“However, if this idea [of pushing through] does not appeal to you (and there has been some research looking at why introverts don’t like the idea of acting extroverted), it may be a better idea to remove yourself from the situation or to reframe how you are thinking about yourself,” the expert told Bored Panda.
