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Introvert Recovery
23/8/01 12:29The other day my college friend Khava wrote a LJ entry about what I like to call "Introvert Recovery."
It's that time right after you've just been somewhere or done something with too many people. Each person has their definition of "too many." For me, it's about four, including myself.
Even if you like the people - they could be your best friends - you feel drained, mentally and sometimes physically. It's like getting a negative score on Jeopardy. You want to sleep or watch TV, or read the comics secion; you want to do something that takes as little thought as possible.
My whole family doesn't understand this. They party and talk and are around fifty people - this is when they're in their element. It's what gives them more energy, instead of draining them.
I've been thinking about this, and the old introvert rationale: "they can't settle down and be quiet, can't take time to see the world around them," popped into my head.
I've been thinking about this a while, and wondering if it's just as wrong as extroverts pointing to us introverts and saying things like, "party-pooper."
They can, I think, take time to relax. But their time to relax is during parties and other such gatherings. It's when they decompress.
I think a lot of misunderstandings between groups of people - dorm-halls, bunches of friends, extended families - would just be solved if the introverts realized that their walk in the park is another's New Year's Eve, and the extroverts realized that sitting out alone in the yard for two hours at twilight is not "wierd," it's the introvert's night out on the town.
"It's their party, and we can leave if we want to."
It's that time right after you've just been somewhere or done something with too many people. Each person has their definition of "too many." For me, it's about four, including myself.
Even if you like the people - they could be your best friends - you feel drained, mentally and sometimes physically. It's like getting a negative score on Jeopardy. You want to sleep or watch TV, or read the comics secion; you want to do something that takes as little thought as possible.
My whole family doesn't understand this. They party and talk and are around fifty people - this is when they're in their element. It's what gives them more energy, instead of draining them.
I've been thinking about this, and the old introvert rationale: "they can't settle down and be quiet, can't take time to see the world around them," popped into my head.
I've been thinking about this a while, and wondering if it's just as wrong as extroverts pointing to us introverts and saying things like, "party-pooper."
They can, I think, take time to relax. But their time to relax is during parties and other such gatherings. It's when they decompress.
I think a lot of misunderstandings between groups of people - dorm-halls, bunches of friends, extended families - would just be solved if the introverts realized that their walk in the park is another's New Year's Eve, and the extroverts realized that sitting out alone in the yard for two hours at twilight is not "wierd," it's the introvert's night out on the town.
"It's their party, and we can leave if we want to."
