Our world is highly extrovert-friendly. We admire extrovert charisma and outgoing nature. Introverts are often not looked at as the ideal leaders or ideal people to have in front of our organizations and in other leadership positions. Introverts have many qualities. They're very introspective, have rich inner worlds and can be very creative.
What is difficult for introverts is the need for solitude to recharge their batteries. I think the crucial work that every introvert does is to balance their time between solitude and socialization. If they socialize too much and they don't get time to rest, they become overstimulated, and that can lead to burnout quite easily. That is very connected with setting boundaries. I think every introvert, actually every person, whether introvert or extrovert, has to know and learn where their boundaries are and learn how to set them with other people. That can include saying no to social events when they feel like they have been subjected to a lot of people in a longer period of time. I believe that also means setting boundaries at work and in personal life. It is very important for introverts to seek out roles and responsibilities they know they can handle while fulfilling their potential, being happy and delivering their best. And I think this is very individual and different for everyone.
I actually consider myself an introvert as well, and this has been very important for me to not get overstimulated. When I feel like I have had a very busy day, I really need some solitude. I also believe that the crucial thing for me and for many other introverts is to know what are my strengths and to not get swept out by the ideals that I sense and see in society, like being very outgoing, handling as much as we can, growing rapidly, being extremely successful, always having people around, etc. These are some of the social stereotypes as I see them nowadays and that I always need to kind of take a break from and ground myself in who I am, what I want, what I am good at, and how I can contribute to society with the whole package being me.
I believe that every single introvert out there can have this life and even be in front of organizations as leaders and managers. I think that's one of the things that introverts might struggle with, being in the spotlight, and knowing how to cope with that because that comes with much more stimulus, a lot of attention, a lot of conversations, and so on. I believe that everyone has their way of dealing with that, and we just need to find that, learn that, practice that, and thrive with that. And of course, not every introvert should work on being on the spotlight, it’s okay to decide not to be.
What this practice is for me personally is just knowing when to stay away and have some time alone and when to socialize. That's probably the basics. Often it’s meditation for me. I practice meditation, and I'm learning how to incorporate that into my daily life. Thanks to meditation, I'm able to get back to myself and do the whole process that I explained above. That's what it does for me the most, I believe. For someone else, it can be being very active, doing sports, going to nature, which is also one thing that I like to do from time to time that helps me relax.
And last but not least, I am very happy that there are more and more conversations about this topic nowadays, and that introverts can seek out so much help and so many techniques that they can implement in their daily life. Also, just the idea of knowing that there are so many of us, and we all can thrive and do the best that we can in the world, is golden.
