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- what is an introvert hangover?
Welcome to The Introverted Path!
Like Taylor Swift when she saw Travis Kelce, I’m excited to see you all again!
But in all seriousness, I have really enjoyed writing this newsletter. I hope you have found it beneficial so far.
Introverts have long been misunderstood. Instead of burying these traits, it’s time we embraced them.
I have a lot more planned for 2024 to continue to grow this community — I can’t wait for what’s to come 🚀
In today’s email:
What is an introvert hangover?
How to avoid it, or recover quickly when it happens
Links to other content I enjoyed this week
Let’s dive in 🤙
Introvert hangover 🤒
It’s Sunday morning, and you wake up feeling exhausted.
The weekends are supposed to be for recovering, yet you feel more drained than you do during the work week.
How did you get here?
Well, the answer could be a typical hangover of consuming too much alcohol (something I would NEVER do) 😉
Or, it could be an introvert hangover.
An introvert hangover occurs when we spend too much time interacting with others and we feel mentally and physically exhausted.
Until recently, I didn’t fully understand why this would happen to me. Much of the world is designed for extroverts and requires you to be in large groups of people.
We spend a majority of our lives in either school or work. Both of these environments require you to be amongst big groups of people.
But once you understand why and how this happens, you can understand how to best recover. Or avoid them altogether when possible.
Remedies for an introvert hangover
What is the best way to avoid a hangover from drinking?
There is one surefire way to not have a hangover. It works 100% of the time.
You may have guessed it…
It’s not drinking any alcohol.
And the best way to avoid an introvert hangover is to avoid situations you know will make you exhausted.
I’m not saying to avoid all social situations. Most of life is about our interactions with other people. In general, I think having a default to ‘yes’ is good.
But say you have been traveling all week for work. Meetings all day in another city. Dinners and socializing at night.
There’s a group of people you know going to a concert that Friday night and they ask you to come. Chances are, when you get back from the work trip you will be exhausted.
You may be better served by recharging Friday night so that you are feeling good the rest of the weekend.
The ability to say ‘no’ is extremely powerful. You need to know yourself and what your limits are.
Okay, so knowing when to say ‘no’ is one way. But realistically, we won’t always know our limits or want to avoid situations that will give us an introvert hangover.
So when they do come, the best thing we can do is recharge.
Recharging for introverts typically means alone time. Reading, watching TV, walks outside. Whatever brings you peace.
It’s important to make time for recharging and also not to feel guilty about it. The US has this hustle culture that makes you feel like you need to always be making progress towards something.
I try to follow the 80/20 rule — 80% of the time I am following positive habits I have laid out for myself.
The other 20% is left open for when shit happens. For when I need to spend a Friday night watching another season of Survivor (fantastic show, any Survivor fans out there??)
So there you have it:
Know your limits and feel empowered to say ‘no’
Have a plan to recharge when you have an introvert hangover
My thoughts 💭
Once I realized I needed alone time to recharge, things became much easier.
Up until then, I never understood why I would feel so drained after loads of socializing.
I try to balance my schedule as much as I can. I typically lay low during the weeks and then plan things during the weekend.
And if I have multiple days worth of plans in a row, I’ll sketch out a plan to recharge once that is over.
So the next time you are presented with an option to do something that brings you some hesitancy, practice saying no.
Your future self will thank you.
Links that I enjoyed this week 💥
That’s it for today - hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter!
Best,
BG