Introverts unite!

[layla]

A nifty article I came across today on Caring For Your Introvert neatly expresses a concept that I've always had trouble getting across to people -- that social interaction drains me. I sometimes have a hard time figuring out how to explain, without sounding like a total weenie, that it's not that I don't enjoy spending time with my friends; it's just that I need a lot of charging/recharging in order to prepare for or recover from an evening of social interaction, or even a phone conversation. It's fun, but it's also a bit like running a marathon uphill, especially in a social setting with a lot of people. I've learned by experience that about 2-3 hours of personal interaction (give or take a bit) or somewhere between a half-hour to an hour on the phone is about as long as I can happily enjoy before I reach the point where weariness starts to overwhelm the fun I'm having. So ... if I leave a party early, or if I politely start trying to end a conversation on the phone after an hour or so, it's not because I don't like you, it's just because I'm getting very tired and I need to stop for a rest.

Comments

[jkcarrier.livejournal.com]

I can never decide if I'm introverted, or just genuinely misanthropic. ;-) But that article certainly nails how I feel a lot of the time. "You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush" should be made into a t-shirt.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Ha! I like that! It definitely should! :D

I think one of the things I liked most about that article is that it made me feel less misanthropic for just not wanting to be around people a lot of the time. I *do* like people; I just need a lot of alone time too, and most of my favorite things to do are fairly solitary pursuits.