Socialed Out
"I'm just socialed out," Joan explains,
as she chose a prospective short visit
over a longer invitation to a meal,
even though we dearly love the person we will see,
even though we dearly love people,
we are not enough extrovert to be energized,
recharged by time with friends,
re-centered and empowered,
rather we are appreciative of connection,
glad and joyous with the gift of the social,
yet, unlike the extrovert,
we get exhausted by the imperative demand
of relationship with the other,
we need our down time,
the rebooting of turning off,
waiting,
and then restarting,
I have often described it as my need for "hermit time,"
every day needs the rebooting of sleep
so that when tomorrow comes,
our systems are fresh,
a new dawn, a new day,
and we can be ready to appreciate
that we are a part of much that is larger,
we love the larger whole into which we can make our way,
nevertheless, for the introvert within us,
the social can be an effort,
not the relaxing into what helps us be real and present,
like the extrovert must feel,
can they ever be socialed out?
or does loneliness plague them
when not with other people,
like the way too much social plagues us?
by Henry H. Walker
July 4, ‘26
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