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I Need a Break From Social Interaction

Question:

Not because I don’t like it, per se, in fact I really enjoy it – however the past few years of my life have basically involved non-stop social interaction and it would nice to enjoy a week or two of quiet reflection . Call it time-sickness, I suppose, in fact that’s been on ongoing theme in my life – that is the desire to pack too much stuff into a given time frame, to the point where I feel I have to *do it now* and *do it fast*.  While I value packing a lot of experiences in, I need to put the brakes on when it gets too much!  Thus, this applies to social interaction as well – in fact I’ve been doing a lot of it lately, and it is getting to be too much. From an outside observer, my life may appear to be that of an extrovert, given the amount of time I spend with people and the types of activities I’ve been doing (working cashier jobs, public speaking, ushering customers, sometimes doing two jobs in one day, jumping off 10 metre diving boards, gallavanting off to Vegas in the middle of busy weeks, acting giddy a lot, meeting and dancing with strangers at wedding receptions, and playing drums in music teams, to name a few) – however despite all this stuff, I am an introvert at heart, and it’s at this particular time that I need to meet those needs and take a break of quiet reflection for a while. Several people I know have acted surprised when I tell them I’m introverted – and in many cases it’s because they see the outgoing side of me present in some of the aforementioned activities.  However, what they don’t see, is that the energy that I get in order to do those activities comes from rest, relaxation, reflection, and downtime.  But, and this may be somewhat contradictory, once I get warmed up and into a social activitiy, my energy then *increases* until it builds up.  Then I start to feel tired, and it’s at that point where I need to take some time out for myself. An example:  at Vegas.  I had just finished a whirlwind travel trip down to Nevada, involving taking two buses, an airplane, and a shuttle, all the while yapping away to strangers and figuring out my way around in strange new cities.  Then when I arrived at Vegas I went by myself to a restaurant and enjoyed food there, as well struck up a few conversations with fellow diners.  However, as soon as I settled into my hotel room, I was exhausted, and fell asleep promptly.  I enjoyed that time to myself, and savored the precious moments of rest! Then the phone rang!  My initial reaction was to jolt out of a semi-sleep and feel somewhat peeved because I had my quiet time ‘taken away’ but then I realized it was Marsha telling me to meet her and the others in her hotel room.  Then, all of a sudden, my energy level took off again, and increased as I met these guys!  However, as the evening wore on, I did get tired again, and craved going to bed for the night, and enjoyed a refreshing 10 hours of sleep. So, it’s no surprise that after I finish experiencing a short break and enjoying some quiet reflection, I’ll be bouncing right back into an involved and energetic lifestyle – and it’ll likely be busy when school starts.  However, for the moment, I feel like I’ve had enough social interaction and a break looks mighty fine. On a related note, and I may have mentioned this before, I am glad this year will be my last at school and graduation is just around the corner.  It’s not that I don’t like school and learning, in fact I absolutely love the student experience.  The reason I want to graduate is that I want to produce so badly!  As in, getting involved in the real world. Also, I want to avoid ’student drift’, or what is known as being a professional student – that is continuing to take courses in university and rack up credits because it’s a nice safe place.  I know one person who has done exactly that, and remained a student until he was 30!!!  He ended up getting three undergrad degrees. Obviously, I want to continue learning, but the challenge will be to enroll in the school of life.  It’ll be a bit different than university, because it isn’t entirely safe, and the structure isn’t always given to you.  You need to create it.  Also, economics plays a much larger role.  You need to find work and pay the bills, as well as produce.  In the ‘real world’ it’s not as simple as passing exams, you need the confidence that comes from tackling much more complex projects.  On the other hand, the school of life offers a ton of variety, and the riches are absolutely enormous.   Also, I’ve had a fair dabble in real life experience, through various jobs worked to pay for university.  In fact, the toughest parts of overcoming shyness occured at real world jobs, namely customer service work (usher and cashier). They don’t teach you this stuff at university, but the skills are really important to learn. The ‘calendar’ for the ‘courses’ in the real world can come from all over the place:  Professional organizations, continuing education, friends and networks, movie guides, restaurants, roadmaps, churches, the internet, books, and volunteer organizations.  This is just scatching the tiniest tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s out there. It’s confusing all right.  But if you have plan, the riches can be managed, and a might interesting courseload can be derived from the abundant sources of choice and educational opportunities that the real world has to offer. You need to have a plan. Hmmm …. I think the work *PLAN* comes in handy :-) Anyways. As of right now, I’m feeling way too excited.  The choices are too much, the potential for experience is overwhelming, as well I’ve overloaded myself with too much experience this summer, and I think time sickness factored in.  So a break is much needed. What I did is planned my break for this week, hehe, and it involves taking days out at a time and simply reading.  Also, it involves cutting the work hours down to something like 12 this week, which is basically nothing.  Also, I’ve got all the school supply tasks done, my room is cleaned up, and the goals have been set.  It’s basically time to kick back now :-) Steve — "God pours contempt on nobles and disarms the  mighty."   – Job 12:21 Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

Response:

"Steve R." wrote:

<snipped all of it> WHen I get too much social interaction on the weekend, I feel overwhelmed & tired well into the week.  WHich is why I had to snip all your post instead of read it.  :)  I either do nothing at all with people on the weekend.  Or I do things with people non-stop. EM

Response:

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