An Extroverts’ Guide to Indoors!

If you are an Extrovert, I know that this must not be the best situation you can be. I mean to be out of all the elements that define your comfort zone, makes it harder to cope up. Now with the age of the internet, the growing empathy to Introversion, people often find the idea that extroverts are uncomfortable funny or invigorating. How the Karmic balances have shifted and gave some sense of justice to the Introverts.

Let me try to tell what triggers us in these times. Try to understand how these may not affect an introvert person the same as they are affecting extrovert. Extroverts harvest the energy of their environment to keep them charged up. They like a certain amount of entropy which gives a feeling of being alive and doing something. The randomness, the spontaneity and diversity are what plays to their strength. They like to stimulate all of their sense, especially to see, hear and touch.

A very essential part of their social ecosystem is people. It doesn’t matter if these people are known or unknown, any direct and indirect interactions make extroverts comfortable. They treat them as an instance of learning and introspection. This Pandemic has taken this external source away from extroverts. Despite the recovery, unlocks and subsequent Lockdowns, the world is not the same and socialising is definitely not the same. It feels constricting and being social on online platforms is a very sensory deprived activity (hence Introverts love it). It is like keeping a plant the shade, how will it survive?

I also have had a hard time dealing with the ‘new reality’. I understand that for people who are super socially active or even just like a bit of white noise-chaos around would be very uncomfortable with dead silence. The video-calls and chats do not seem to work enough. Being alone with your thoughts too is a scary thing and, the worst is when you have a person, there is nothing new happening that will inspire fresh ideas.

The thing is that I don’t miss the party, pizzaz or the super-socialising as much as I miss making a statement by dressing up, the sights and sounds of a busy life. The hustle and bustle to see other people and imagine how their stories of life are. I miss seeing myself from a fresh perspective, the way I do in conversations with new people, with the non-verbal-cues that made everything more enriching. It’s not that I am missing the world out there. I am missing the universe inside me that was powered by the world outside. So yes, before anyone rudely goes on about MY shallow social life, just know that not everyone believes scrolling Reddit is life.

I have found out some ways that help me ease off, stay energised and inspired in a pandemic. I too am still learning to walk the talk, but I felt why not share the path- 

• Make peace with alone time- This has to be the most crucial step to conquer. We as a generation are not very adept to being alone, so you need to start making peace with it. Try to keep yourself isolated, with no mode of communication. Start small, like 10 mins and then increase. If it feels hard, make time for some activity that lets your mind sit in autopilot, like music, meditation or painting. Try to let the order be the chaos you miss.

• Keep your channels as open as they were before- Online socialising has us overcompensating for the lack of quality we had in conversation earlier. But what you have to get is, such exposure overwhelms you and makes you more agitated rather than excited. Try to detox the digital out of your routine to keep a sane headed outset in mind. Do talk to your friends and peers over these new channels but be ready to shut them when needed.

• Engage in physical activity- Yoga, stretching and, even things like running errands should be necessary to kind of break the monotony in life, to give you a glimpse of the world outside and inspire with you with it. It is not like tripping the mountains but, if you are an extrovert, you know a trip to Bazar is no less of an adventure.

• Limit the people you are reaching out to- I know it’s an extrovert’s cardinal sin but, you have to understand, the times are disparaging for all and most importantly you. You do not have the resources to recharge yourself and, hence it is good not to drain the energy you have. Limit reaching out people close to you who understand how much stress you can bear and when it is time for them to support you.

• Learn to improvise for the future- The reality is, things are looking bleak for the foreseeable future. It is better to establish alternate avenues to gain energy and inspiration and when push comes to shove, then go be your old self.

No matter how much we deny, the world was already moving to an introvert benefitting space, this just accelerated the process. So why not, adapt and find new ways to make the best of this. It is not like the world is over, it is just different and, changes are hard. I know one thing for sure, an extrovert is like a seed in the concrete, no matter how unsustainable things seems, they break out and bloom and let the world know there is hope.

So how are you coping up this year? Let me know in comments!