From "Introverts in the Church", Adam S. McHugh:
"Introverts are energized by solitude.We are recharged from the inside out, from the forces of our internal world of ideas and feelings. Just as a geyser finds it's power from a subterranean water source, introverts derive strength from hidden places."
"Some people misconstrue the introverted need for solitude as being antisocial. But it's not that we don't like people, it's that time with other people in the external world has a draining effect on us. We don't avoid social situations like we would a trip to the dentist, but sometimes we avoid them like we might avoid exercise, because we lack the energy for it."
As introverts, we all skip social situations from time to time. However. how many important social situations have you avoided because you lacked the energy? I have missed weddings, graduations, birthday parties...not because I don't love the person, not because I don't value the importance of the situation, but so often because I had spent my social energy in other ways earlier in the week and just couldn't muster it up.
Unfortunately, extroverts will often not understand this, and they will see it as a personal offense. So, I'll go out on a limb and admit I have made the excuse of being ill more times than I can count simply because I could not think of a "legitimate" way to explain that I was clean out of social energy.
While I still haven't found a good way to explain it, I have begun to mature to the point that I've realized making excuses a) does hurt people I care about and b) often I will have a good time if I go. So I am learning to plan ahead. When I know there is something coming up that I should attend, I have to save up my social energy by being careful how I spend it earlier in that same week. While not always ideal, this does help.
How about you?
*All quotes are from the book "Introverts in the Church,: Finding our Place in an Extroverted Culture" by Adam S. McHugh.
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