Sometimes it is hard to figure out whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, and other times it's clear for you to see which one you were. If you had just one social interaction with me, you would know I'm an extrovert. That doesn't always mean there can't be struggles to being an extrovert though. We have it hard as well sometimes.
1. We can't stop talking.
I'm sorry, but trying to be quiet takes more work out of me than talking does. It's just my second nature. There is so much to talk about, and not enough time in the day to speak about it. I will literally talk about every second of my day so far, every emotion I've felt, and every reaction I've had. Sometimes we don't even know what we're going to say until the words have already left our mouths. I'll only realize about 20 minutes later that I haven't stopped to breath, let alone let you speak at all.
2. Whenever we do talk, it's not going to be quiet.
We get excited. We just can't help it. With speaking as fast as we can come speaking as loud as we can. As extroverts continue to talk, we get caught up in our actions and cannot contain ourselves anymore. One second you're talking at a normal level, and the next you're basically screaming and pedestrians are glancing your way and shushing you.
3. Talking with your hands.
It's just another habit we've picked up. We talk fast, we talk loud, and we use our whole body to convey what we are trying to say. Most of the times we just want to tell you a story about something that happened and what good is a story without hand motions?
4. We don't always realize we're being needy or clingy.
We love being around people. It's entertaining and enjoyable. That doesn't mean everyone else wants to be around us all of the time. We could repeatedly ask you to hang out, see you about three times that day, and beg you to not leave. That is just who we are. If that is not who you are, tell us. We will have no problem backing off and giving you space, but the chances of us doing that on our own are slim.
5. People expect you to be the one who always starts and continues the conversation.
Everyone gets anxious, and this may be a shocker for some people, but it also applies to the extroverts of the world. That doesn't mean we have anxiety, but in certain social situations, we get very anxious. Sure, we love talking to different people and keeping the conversation going, but it's not always our job and we are not always comfortable with it.
6. People assume you're going to be around no matter what.
We will always be there for our friends. Any decent person should always be there for their friends. It does get hard though when you have so many friends and every single person is asking for advice, help, favors, and all of your time. We love being there for people in times of need, but we have to prioritize what is important and a lot of the times it's hard to remember we as people are also a priority. It's not the worst thing ever for you to turn something down in order to recuperate.
7. We do need alone time.
As much as we love to be around people, we need to recharge. We need a few hours of our week set aside for me time. It may be a few hours in one day or one hour a night, but no matter what, that time is precious to us. To me, getting ready in the morning isn't "me time". It's just a daily task. We need actual time where we have nothing to do but unwind.
8. Unexpected alone time is one of the worst.
As much as the alone time is needed, there are few things worse in our minds than when you want to hang out with friends and everyone is busy or just wants to be alone. We accept that you have your own lives and that you can't always give us your full attention, but it leaves us feeling unproductive. Most of the time we have our alone time planned out and set aside. We know exactly what we're going to do and when we're gonna do it. That all changes when it pops up at the last minute and you don't know what to do.
9. The feeling when you know you're gonna crash and burn, but you can't stop socializing.
One of our biggest problems is that we just don't know when to stop. We don't know how to put ourselves first, and sometimes it can be really hard to give yourself that alone time. We strive off of social interaction. It's basically how we survive. We push off our alone time to fit more social interactions into our schedule which after a while gets tiring. It starts to wear down on your body, and then the crashing point comes. It takes, even more, time to recuperate once you crash than it does after a while.
10. FOMO
This is one of the things worse than unexpected alone time. We want to be a part of everything, but that doesn't always work out the way we may want it to. Events overlap with others and sometimes it's hard to choose what is the right thing for you to do. No matter what you're gonna have fun doing what you're doing, but you still hate the thought of someone else having fun without you and then you can't relate to all of their inside jokes because you weren't there.
