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Where does Introverts' energy come from?

psyche

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If someone is typically drained by face-to-face interaction, but uses their "alone" time to recharge their batteries either talking on the phone, reading, watching a movie, or on the Internet, does this make them more likely to be I or E?

What about if they include in their recharging time running errands alone, but in places where they know they'll bump into people they know and have brief chats along the way?

Do true Introverts get their energy in a different way, that doesn't involve any external stimulation (including reading a book or watching a movie)?

Thanks.
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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Okay, that was random. But anyway... um...

Well personally as an introvert I like to engage in impersonal hobbies that interest me such as internet timewasting, reading, writing and stuff but sometimes I just lie or sit down and think for hours on end. This is more INTP though and I don't think it makesyou extroverted to get enjoyment from external stimulus, particularly at the mild level of books and film. It just means you don't want TOO much of it.
 

nolla

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For me, all social situations where I have to "watch myself" are straining. If there is no one to see me, I don't have to behave, so it is like a rest for me. People who don't care how I behave are also soothing. This is all in the back of my mind, though... I don't try to behave but just can't help it.
 

Synapse

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Give me introvert power now, I am yawning too much at the moment. probably sugar. I wish there was a drink called insta introvert pick me up. For all those drainage days that squeeze the life outta ya, just drink el natural minty flavour. none of these pep coffee drinks thanks. Yeah its source energy and that energy gives you a zing a ling a ding. A spring a ling a ning. A swing a sing a long. nah. meh. something in the water. must regain vitality.

I can stand in a crowd all day and blink. Although I would feel confined and would feel like I need some air. I suppose its just having a quiet space to ourselves. I know when i want to have time to myself favourite place is the toilet or outdoors. but usually people smoke there so i find neglected steps where i can sit creepily away from the crowds to reconnect with my inner introvert. then get back up bright and bubbly, well in particle degrees.
 

entropie

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From the Nexus:

nexus1.jpg


Which plays following music when you approach him:

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTDYWQFCSD0"].[/YOUTUBE]

:D
 

CrystalViolet

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I like to sit and think, or lie down and think. Looks like I'm snoozing but I'm not, LOL. People who don't require anything from me are also good. I just reliesed all my close friends are introverts too...hmmm. Spending time with loved ones shooting teh breeze, and talking crap. I find running errands tiring though. Going for long walks is good especially when some thing is on my mind, watching cheesey dvds, writing, painting, pondering, reading...anything that doesn't involve people. I kinda have to do a reset every once in a while and process events, and rearrange thought patterns. It's more about having space to process. I get to the point where I have to withdraw and stop the stimilus in order to process what's gone on before.
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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I like to sit and think, or lie down and think. Looks like I'm snoozing but I'm not, LOL. People who don't require anything from me are also good. I just reliesed all my close friends are introverts too...hmmm. Spending time with loved ones shooting teh breeze, and talking crap. I find running errands tiring though. Going for long walks is good especially when some thing is on my mind, watching cheesey dvds, writing, painting, pondering, reading...anything that doesn't involve people. I kinda have to do a reset every once in a while and process events, and rearrange thought patterns. It's more about having space to process. I get to the point where I have to withdraw and stop the stimilus in order to process what's gone on before.

It's been a while since I've read such a long post about ones self in which I can fully relate to absolutely everything. There is not a single feature here that isn't present in myself, with the possible exception of cheesy DVDs, as I usually prefer ones with more substance. All my close friends are introverts as well. And I too have the thing where it looks like I'm snoozing but I'm just thinking. Sometimes my parents come into my room, see me lying on my couch with my eyes closed in the dark and my head under a pillow, lying in a fetal position, and think I am depressed. This is sometimes true, but often I am just lost in a world of my imagination and analysis of everything. Unfortunately at the moment, my couch is covered in stuff, and I'm too lazy to get rid of it, so I have to stick with my lousy bed, which due to my laziness also, is usually sandy and does not feel as comfortable for non-sleeping things.
 

psyche

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Thanks for your responses. Some excellent food for thought.

So...are you saying that some interactions don't in fact drain you -- with people with whom you don't have to worry about how you act? I call those "low maintenance" people. The few people -- very close friends, perhaps family -- who you are totally comfortable with. Is that right? Or would a true introvert be drained by even these interactions?

And, are you saying as well that as an introvert you need time alone to process information, not simply to recharge your batteries? Is this always the case?

Thanks. Very interesting comments! I haven't found a thorough explanation of how one truly "recharges" as an introvert.
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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Thanks for your responses. Some excellent food for thought.

So...are you saying that some interactions don't in fact drain you -- with people with whom you don't have to worry about how you act? I call those "low maintenance" people. The few people -- very close friends, perhaps family -- who you are totally comfortable with. Is that right? Or would a true introvert be drained by even these interactions?

And, are you saying as well that as an introvert you need time alone to process information, not simply to recharge your batteries? Is this always the case?

Thanks. Very interesting comments! I haven't found a thorough explanation of how one truly "recharges" as an introvert.

No, no. You don't really recharge an introvert. Cuz the social energy, it's like heat. You don't have hot and cold, just hot and less hot. We naturally have a lower social temperature and if we get it too high through exposure to social heat, we get sweaty and tired and sick. So we have to go into a cool room with a fan of calmness so our heat can be expelled from our bodies and we are back at our natural temperature. Sometimes social interactions and activities are of perfectly mild temperature and we are capable of engaging in them for long periods of time without overheating.

Extraverts have a higher natural temperature and therefore require higher expposure to the heat of social interactions and exciting activity or else they get a cold or frostbite.

And before you ask, yes I did pull that out of my arse.
 

entropie

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If you tell yourself things long enough as an introvert, you do believe them one day right ? :D
 

nolla

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So...are you saying that some interactions don't in fact drain you -- with people with whom you don't have to worry about how you act? I call those "low maintenance" people. The few people -- very close friends, perhaps family -- who you are totally comfortable with. Is that right?

For me, that's how it goes.

No, no. You don't really recharge an introvert. Cuz the social energy, it's like heat. You don't have hot and cold, just hot and less hot. We naturally have a lower social temperature and if we get it too high through exposure to social heat, we get sweaty and tired and sick. So we have to go into a cool room with a fan of calmness so our heat can be expelled from our bodies and we are back at our natural temperature. Sometimes social interactions and activities are of perfectly mild temperature and we are capable of engaging in them for long periods of time without overheating.

Extraverts have a higher natural temperature and therefore require higher expposure to the heat of social interactions and exciting activity or else they get a cold or frostbite.

In that case, I am no pure introvert. Or I am ignoring the over-heating...
 

skylights

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pysche said:
So...are you saying that some interactions don't in fact drain you -- with people with whom you don't have to worry about how you act? I call those "low maintenance" people. The few people -- very close friends, perhaps family -- who you are totally comfortable with. Is that right?

extraverts have these kind of people too :yes: being extraverted doesn't mean you're never concerned about how you act socially, or that social interactions don't eventually wear on you. i have a touch of social anxiety and sometimes i need to escape, too, just to chill out.

the real difference is that my primary focus lies outside of me, scanning external information, and that (being my first cognitive function) comes at the lowest energy cost for me. it's less tiring to look outside than to look in - but EFJs, for example, are usually more into people than ENPs, because their dominant extraverted function is Fe - people interaction - while ours is Ne - pattern scanning.
 

Hirsch63

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For me, all social situations where I have to "watch myself" are straining. If there is no one to see me, I don't have to behave, so it is like a rest for me. People who don't care how I behave are also soothing. This is all in the back of my mind, though... I don't try to behave but just can't help it.

+1
 

Billy

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For me, all social situations where I have to "watch myself" are straining. If there is no one to see me, I don't have to behave, so it is like a rest for me. People who don't care how I behave are also soothing. This is all in the back of my mind, though... I don't try to behave but just can't help it.

Good point, I never really put it that way to myself. I hate being in a crowd, I lost focus and get worn out rather quickly, especially if its somewhere new with people I dont know, I start to become hyper self aware of the vibe I am putting out, the way I am appearing to everyone else, and what they're thinking about me and I just hate it... I explained this to my GF and told her I am an introvert, she gets that, but she doesn't get how in a small group I can be energized and feel good, I guess its because like you said, if I am with people who love/understand me, I am not quite so self conscious and aware of what I am doing, I just act more like I do when I am alone. And as a result I dont get quite so worn out, and if I am with my gf alone, its ultra soothing, because I have just the right mix of interaction and social-ness but I am comfortable enough to be myself, so it has a sort of synergy type of feeling thats very easy to process and digest as it unfolds, whereas out in public there is just too much to swallow and my "processor" cant keep up and I need to retreat away to give it time to catch up.
 

Coriolis

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Yes, I get my energy from within, too. External interactions tend to sap it, some more than others. As others have mentioned, needing to use or deal with less-preferred functions is a bigger energy drain than activities where my dom/aux are used. Anything that demands I be other than myself, or pay particular attention to how I come across also takes more energy. Close friends take energy, too, but since I am comfortable around them, I need not expend so much energy on self-monitoring or operating in those less-preferred modes. The energy drains at a much slower rate. With my SO, we are happy just being in each other's presence, doing our own thing. That is almost as restorative as being alone.
 
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