Obstacle To Growth

In my pursuit to live my life according to the core humanist values of reason, compassion, and individual and social ethical responsibility, I have discovered where my greatest challenge lies. It is compassion.  I am not a mean-spirited person, and I am able to act compassionately toward others, yet I still know that I have some serious work and change in this area to achieve the ideal of this humanist value.  Those who know me understand that I am an introvert and REALLY LOVE my alone time.  Yet, if I am to obtain genuine compassion for others then I must be honest and admit that this inclination of mine is detrimental to my growth as a truly compassionate human being.  Genuine compassion requires a sincere attempt to understand others for who they are and why they are who they are.  This type of understanding is achieved ONLY through consistent and meaningful  connection/interaction with those whom are to be objects of our compassion.  This type of connection requires quality time being spent with those in my life.  I know this commitment to improve and increase my compassion will not be easy for me, but I believe the best things we obtain in life are products of hard work.  The first step in any type of change is always the hardest and in my case this will involve sacrificing some of my cherished "me" time to schedule more quality time with family and friends.  I must be honest and admit that I am slightly fearing this change.  I'm not sure why I fear this change, but part of this journey will definitely lead to some self-discovery and growth.    

I'm open to listening to others who have had a similar struggle and what has assisted them in implementing this type of change.