Instead of going to a networking-y kind of event, I am sitting at home on the couch watching Austenland. I know I should go, I want to go, and I probably will go, but the idea of going makes me so tired. Mostly because I spent a good chunk of my evening last night talking to strangers at another professional-type event, and I’m going to a con (C2E2) this weekend, which means speaking in public AND talking to strangers, and that will probably be all of the mental/emotional energy I have for such interaction with people I don’t know well until April. I overbooked myself with public events, which is a no-no as an introvert.
And it’s hard to articulate moments like this.For me, it’s like this: you know how some people seem to be really pumped up after a strenuous workout and other people are super tired and want to take a nap? And you may have felt the workout was great and enjoyed it overall, but you’re still tired at the end? That’s like public interaction for me, as an introvert. (interestingly, i’m the opposite when it comes to exercising)
I’m a big fan of the book Quiet by Susan Cain (I even did a talk about it once at Ignite Chicago) But one of the outcomes of the popularity of that book has been a lot of think-piece type articles about the care and feeding of introverts. I don’t want to be seen as a special snowflake or get my hair stroked like a kitten or some precious bullshit, and I feel like there’s a lot of writing about introversion that veers dangerously close to that direction. One thing that would give introverts a real break, is just a breather in feeling “on” all the time, which these days, is harder and harder to do, especially with social media and creating a semi-public persona becoming the norm for everyone. But that’s maybe what a lot of the writing about caring for introverts is trying to articulate. But introverts aren’t special people with special life requirements, just people that would like a little less conversation. (heh)
Anyway, with that in mind, Austenland is over, I guess I should go to this event for a bit.
Keidra Chaney 