If after a long day, you fantasize cozy night-ins and canceled social meet-ups, we’re in the same page fellow introverts.
We’re not anti-socials. For us, being with a person is like playing with your best friend’s cute newborn who cries bloody murder every 20 mins. Sure, we love the baby, but we love the baby more when the baby’s away from us after 1 hour.
We introverts feel like that with everyone all the time.
It’s not you. It’s us.
It is not that we don’t like people, being with people for a long time drains us introverts. Alone time charges introverts with energy.
I don’t know about you, but my introverted friends and I prefer to work in a quieter environment—the fewer people the better. We can’t focus with coworkers constantly expecting us to chat with the same intensity as golden retriever puppies nudging us to play fetch.
Yeah, fine, we can join for 15 minutes. A little fun won’t hurt, it won’t drain our energy, as long as it’s not too much fun.
Suddenly, it’s 5 PM. We love them (they’re nice people) but they “ate” our work.
That’s why the time I’m confident enough with my portfolio, I quit the full-time job (that I love) and started freelancing.
“Something’s different about you,” commented a long-time freelance project partner on a meeting, “you don’t look beaten up.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I beamed, “I just quit my full-time job.” I felt like I can do more at home.
Funny is, I get less done when I’m home rather than when I’m at my previous office. Well, to be fair, in my previous office, my mother doesn’t tell me to do laundry and lecture me. I thought she distracts me. However, when she’s not home for days, I get even lesser done.
Zero people around and I get almost zero things done.
Do I really need people to be around me?
If so, how come I kept getting distracted?
“Come with me to Bali,” said my boyfriend, “There’s this community of digital nomads in Canggu.”
Community sounds horrifying. I got flashbacks of past leadership camps in which I was expected to talk with fellow participants/ strangers 24/7 and stay up late. I spent too much energy trying to fit in that I came home sick.
Dojo community is nothing like that.
When I want to be social, I join their lunches, quiz night, Friday beers by the beach, etc. It’s long enough to keep it fun, short enough to keep my energy from draining. No time for those awkward silents in which everyone runs out of topic.
When I want to work, I work. I really work. Seeing everyone getting things done every day is so motivating, way more motivating than watching funny cat videos.
I only worked for 4 hours a day, but it’s the most productive one month in my life.
Finally, I found my workspace.
It doesn’t matter how many people around me. What matters the most is the environment.
