Introvert? Not looking forward to the return to ‘normal’? You are not alone!
This, from an article in the Washington Post, captures the feelings of many:
This, from an article in the Washington Post, captures the feelings of many:
And now we’re returning to the pre-pandemic world, or as close as we can get. Like everyone else, introverts are excited about seeing family and close friends in person, dining in restaurants, traveling and all the other pleasures of a good life. But most are not interested in facing the forced small talk, the big parties, the noisy open offices and all the demands of extroverts who think more is more and introverts should try harder.
And the description of feelings by one introvert brought a smile of resonance to my face too:
It’s like being paroled for a year and then being told, ‘Actually, you’re going back to prison‘.
These feelings are not shared by all introverts, however. For plenty of people, lockdown hasn’t been the introvert paradise many assume. I for one went from being a happy home-worker, working in an empty house for six hours a day, to a slightly less happy home-worker surrounded by family members. All the time!
That said, I won’t lie: I’ve not missed plenty of the scenarios that extroverts love.
It’s not that I don’t I love people. I do. Just not in large doses!
For extroverts, being around people, it feels like your battery gets charged; it’s energising. For introverts, it’s the opposite. It doesn’t mean time with people isn’t enjoyed. But, after a while, your battery ends up depleted.
Hence, even with my home-environment not being an introvert haven, there’s still plenty about lockdown that has been much better for me than my extroverted wife.
I’ve missed people. And there’s plenty of people I can’t wait to see again, and more of. But having limits on the number of people we can see has actually been, whisper it, pretty great!
So I understand why, for introverts like me, there’s a slight sense of dread accompanying the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. We don’t want things to go back to exactly how they were. We think there were some improvements during lockdown. And we’d like to keep some of them, thank you very much! 😉
How are you feeling about the return to ‘normal’ and being able to see more people again? I'd love to hear from you – just hit reply or drop me a note.