The other night I was at a meet up and trying to explain what Staying Sane and Being Social does. One of the major components is creating a visual representation of how much time/energy a commitment really takes from you. One of the attendees said “Wow, I thought that was just me”, referring to the exhaustion and feeling of overwhelm after a party.
I hear that a lot: I thought it was just me.
Just Because You Feel Alone, Doesn’t Mean You Are Alone
We think we’re odd, off, broken somehow. We think it’s weird, so we don’t talk about it.
The not wanting to talk on the phone, especially to strangers, but even to friends. The being bone tired after a party where all we did was talk to a few people. The fear of asking for what we want. The way we circle new ideas, poking at them a bit (or more) first. The list , it does go on.
I want to be quite clear on this:
- YOU ARE NOT BROKEN!
- IT’S NOT JUST YOU!
- NO ONE NEEDS TO FIX YOU!
*ahem* Sorry for the yelling…
Weird vs Normal, It’s not even a contest
Your reactions are quite normal, for shy/introverted/HSPs. For people who think about their reactions rather than talking about them. And therein lies the problem, we have no way of knowing what is going on in another person’s head, especially if they want to keep it to themselves, since they think they’re weird.
So, I’m collecting “I thought it was just me”s, the thoughts that we don’t usually share and sharing them. Let us know what you thought was just you in your shy, introverted or HSP self. Anything you’ve seen here and were relieved to find that it wasn’t just you. The thing you keep looking to find here to see if it was just you.
I’m leaning towards completely free ebook (no email address exchange or anything), but there will probably be a page with excerpts as well.
As always, here’s the shiny form, please tell us what you thought was ‘just you’:
Please give your initials, if you give your name I’ll use just your initials anyway. If you don’t want to use your real initials, feel free to use the ones from the name you wish your parents had given you, or make something else up entirely. Thanks for joining in, I love to see how telling our stories helps each other.
Looking to stretch your comfort zone in tiny ways and pick up some resource recommendations? Sign up for Inching Along, and every other week I’ll send you one small (possibly even fun) challenge that you can easily accomplish plus other nuggets that I find.
You know, you can get updates by email or RSS. Yay, updates!
In the comments:
We’re being open here, sharing and saying things we don’t always say out loud. What helps: Sharing your stories and Ideas. Cheering and telling what works/worked for you. What hurts: shoulds, harshness, and such. (I used to teach first grade, I can’t help it.)
Tags: anxiety, Awareness, hsp, ideas, introverted, Learning Experience, perceptions, reaction, shy
