On Introversion

Why do I have these sudden attacks of needing to escape and go be alone? Because I'm an introvert. I love this infographic that explains the essential difference between introverts and extroverts: where we get our energy.

I can be loud and crazy and sociable, and that does not mean I'm an extrovert. I'm a high-energy, bouncy, enthusiastic person who goes home at the end of the day and finds peace in my personal bubble.

I consider myself a pretty high-tolerance introvert; that is, I can handle long periods of social interaction with lots of people before I reach the panic-button point. That point can be pushed out if I'm with people around whom I'm very comfortable, and it gets shorter if I'm in a stressful situation, since the battery drains faster.

Experimentation (life!) has shown that the lower limit, being in a new or uncomfortable situation with people who bug me, is a couple of hours, after which I will find some-excuse-any-excuse to walk away and hide in a corner. At my upper limit, in a place where I feel at home with people I like and trust, I can go several days before I start to get a little twitchy. Most daily situations occur somewhere between those two extremes.

I can tell when I'm approaching the end of my rope because suddenly everything becomes annoying. I get edgy and disgruntled, and little comments and actions that normally have no effect on me become enormously bothersome. When that feeling occurs, I pack myself off to a corner for everyone's sanity, and I think this is the point where an extrovert who's not super familiar with my patterns gets confused.

"What's wrong? Why are you leaving? Stay and hang out..."

No no. If I stay, I will bite your head off, and it will be over absolutely nothing. Then we'll have a pointless fight about which I will feel very badly after I've had some time to sleep it off.

So, was driving home in a blizzard when I had a safe couch to sleep on stupid? Mm, maybe. But I did it for a reason that was pretty good.