17 Daily Struggles Only Outgoing Introverts Will Understand

1. Your alarm goes off and you can’t decide whether to wake up and deal with being around people all day or opt out and stay happily content in your bed.

2. If you have plans for the day, you’ll either go all out and try to look your absolute best, or kick back in sweatpants. You’re all about presentation when it comes to impressing people you want to like you, but you don’t need to prove yourself to a group of strangers you’ll never see again or people who already know you super well. And you’re certainly not about to get dressed up to go about your normal routine of going to work/school and going home.

3. When you head out you try to lay low for a while. It’s going to take a minute for you to gather yourself before you have the energy to make conversation with someone you barely know. If someone talks to you, you might appear kind of cold at first, but when you warm up you could talk to just about anyone.

4. The thought of any random stranger talking to you in a public place makes you uncomfortable. If you’re not having it that day, you put headphones on and don’t make direct eye contact so it’s clear you’re not about to make small talk. But if someone does approach you, you manage to squeak out a few awkward sentences before you run away.

5. You spend a lot of your time observing your surroundings. Whether you’re people watching, or closely listening in on conversations, you like to do so from a distance.

6. YOU decide on your own terms that you’re ready to talk. Nobody can make you talk against your will, because if they do you immediately panic and wonder if you’ll say something stupid. You’ll either leave the conversation feeling relieved, or completely exhausted.

7. At work/school, you deal with the constant struggle of keeping a happy face on or completely shutting down and looking miserable. After all, it’s hard for any emotion to come across your face that doesn’t perfectly represent how you’re feeling.

8. Depending on how your day is going, you’ll either want to grab your phone and ask your friends what they are doing later or you’re plotting an excuse to get out of absolutely everything so you can Netflix and chill with yourself and a box of pizza.

9. If you had a lot of alone time that week, you feel like you should go out and socialize a bit. You’re very careful of the plans you make because you don’t want to get stuck in a place where all you’re thinking about is how much you want to go home. But let’s be real, if one of your close friends or your significant other asks you to go somewhere, you’re most likely going to force yourself to go.

10. When you get into whatever social shenanigans you and your friends decide on, you either immediately feel comfortable or you regret ever leaving your house.

11. If you find yourself in a position where there’s a ton of people around, you want to appear friendly. But you need to do your vetting before you approach someone to decide whether or not they are worth your time.

12. If you find someone you enjoy talking to, you’ll spend hours making conversation. You skip the small talk because you feel like you know them already. The two of you have deep, intellectual conversations about life, your favorite TV shows, and bond over just about anything you can think of.

13. When that person leaves you feel anxious about making conversation with someone else. You already decided who you like and who you don’t like so if there’s nobody left to talk to, you’re perfectly fine reaching for your phone and scrolling for a bit to recharge your batteries.

14. When you feel restored, you want to reach out to the people you love. Sure, you’d be happy being alone for the rest of the evening, but your favorite nights are the ones you spend with your best friends. You have a handful of people you know are always there so you can talk about the millions of thoughts racing through your mind.

15. You love your friends who are deeply introspective and reflective. You feel good about yourself when you both learn a lot from a conversation. You feel like a day isn’t complete until you found some kind of outlet to drain all your thoughts, both good and bad.

16. Depending on the day you had, you might be irritable and not want to talk to anybody. People who don’t know you will probably think you’re a bitch but your good friends know that you just need some time by yourself.

17. But no matter what kind of day you have, if someone you love needs you, you drop everything and are there for them in a heartbeat.