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Has anyone ever told you you’re lazy?

It’s easy for people to interpret an introvert’s low energy as laziness. We don’t have the same kind of gusto for ‘getting out there’ as extroverts do. We tire more easily. We experience burnout faster, and we have days when all we want to do is stay in bed.

It’s not that we’re against joining the busybody club. Believe me, we’ve tried. That’s probably how we became so exhausted in the first place.

Keeping up with the extroverts

For much of our lives we’ve scrambled to keep up with extroverts who are constantly on the go. You know who I’m talking about – the kind of people who wake up early on weekends to go to the market, then meet friends for coffee, then do lawn work, then host a dinner party in the evening. Ugh. Sickening.

Why does everyone feel the need to jam pack their day with activities and errands anyway? Personally, I’m a one outing per day kind of girl.

I recently spent an entire day with a very extroverted girlfriend. We went from place to place, and activity to activity, making stops along the way to pick up this or that. By noon all I wanted to do was take a nap.

When the day was done, so was I. I was toast. No, “mush” is a better word. I was reduced to a brainless pile of soggy flesh – not even fit for zombie food let alone coherent conversation.

It took me nearly two days to recover from my little foray into the dark world of extroverted busybodiness. During that time, things were foggy and heavy. I felt weighed down by an invisible forcefield. Even my eyelids had their own tiny anvils.

It was hard to concentrate on work. Hard to get out of bed. I didn’t want to cook for myself (though I did because my fantasies of having a personal man slave have not yet manifested). I just wanted to lie around like the blob of mush that I felt like.

I was lazy. There’s no denying that.

 

What is laziness, really?

By definition, laziness is an unwillingness to use energy. As an introvert, I *must* be lazy sometimes. My energy is limited. Sure, I can force myself to get out there and do as the extroverts do for a day or two. But eventually my tanks are depleted. And laziness helps restore me.

So, I prefer not to label it as laziness. I’m just on “energy saving mode”.

introvert energy saving mode

Deal with it.

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Love,

 

Michaela-Signature

 

 

 

Michaela Chung