14 Struggles Only Introverts Will Understand

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1. Feeling absent minded and just generally being “in your head” so much that often you forget to do the most basic life things. You often think you did things because you “did it in your head.” There’s a part of you that wishes you could just “hire someone” to do all the small, mundane day-to-day things you always forget to do.

2. It’s often difficult for you to be friends with an ex, especially if s/he dumped you. This was a person you trusted, someone you opened yourself up to fully.

3. You’re prone to thinking before talking. People wonder why you are always “so quiet” — that or they think you’re generally disinterested in conversation. It’s just not true.

4. And because you’re prone to think before you open your mouth you’re usually never the first person to speak in a class or group setting. People you work with for the first time think you have no ideas, that you’re not really doing the readings, that you’re not really there at all. You dread having to do group work when you know you’d be better figuring it out on your own.

5. Sometimes you don’t make a good first impression. You come across to new people as arrogant, snobbish, self-absorbed or full of yourself when the reality is that it is hard for you to open up to new people. It’s just that you need to warm up to them first.

6. When you decide to go out you always have to have an escape plan so you can bounce when you feel like it. But you worry that the people who invited you out will think you don’t like them or that you don’t want to hang around anymore. They are amazing, really, but you just want to hurry home so you can be in your own bed and watch your favorite shows on Netflix. You send them a text saying how much fun you had so they don’t think otherwise.

7. You’re a keen observer and you notice everything. You notice changes in your environment super quickly. You are sensitive to changes in patterns. But this is especially agonizing in a relationship because if your guy texts you less or if there’s any sudden change in his behavior you notice it right away. And then the overthinking kicks in.

8. You can’t do small talk, but you really enjoy deep, philosophical discussions.

9. You get frustrated really easily when people don’t see or do things your way.

10. Getting anything done — a project, a painting, a DJ mix, whatever you’re working on — means completely disappearing from society. You take yourself away and insulate yourself in the world of your project for long stretches of time. You know it won’t get finished otherwise.

11. You’re slow. You have a lot of great ideas. You’re imaginative and creatively exciting, but it always takes you forever to bring your ideas to life.

12. Having to deal with, “Are you OK?”

13. You work on things forever because it’s hard for you to let it go. Sometimes your own perfectionism gets in the way of you achieving your goals, but you know this about yourself already so you work hard to overcome it.

14. Having to explain to people that just because you’re an introvert doesn’t mean you don’t like people or that you’re not a social being. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Author of How To Be A Pop Star.

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