3. Pretend that I am out of the country that particular weekend, week, or month.
4. Be excited initially. Then as the day approaches feel annoyed that Future plans are starting to encroach upon the present and get sulky. Day of, contemplate not going at all or faking a car accident. Finally arrive 30 mins late with mild concern over who I will talk to. Pretend to be an extravert enough to traverse the tricky toy strewn path from the front door to wherever the hosts are. Start chatting with people I know. Graduate to chatting with people I don't know and pretend to care about their life when the odds are that I will see this person exactly 3.7 more times during our lifespans. If lucky, create a social bubble within the greater ocean of the party with people I know. Become a baby galaxy to the rest of the chaos. If exceptionally lucky, will have 1 other NP type there to talk with. Feel energized from NP if ratio of NPs is greater or equal to 1:5. If unlucky or ratio is unable to be met, leave party drained and drive home with no radio on, cell phone off, and a building anger at everyone who insists on using headlights at night. Consider bringing sunglasses.
Haha! I, too, feel guilty if I do not go. The problem is that it is not socially accepted in society to beg off a social obligation under the heading "I'm an introvert."
I cheerfully go weeks without doing things with friends, and then it will randomly occur to me "Hmm, I should see X friend!" One on one or small group, I do much much better with... I will thoroughly enjoy myself and not be as drained.
I do love having dinner parties for my friends, and I aways want people to have a venue to see each other, and I love introducing friends from different groups to each other. The problem is that I then overextend myself and I feel crazy. This summer I had a friend come visit from out of state so I threw a party. I ended up having 12 adults and 3 kids running around my house and small yard. It was chaos. Luckily it was a beautiful day so half the people went outside with kids for a few hours.
For me:
Greatest Enthusiasm................Happy.................................................Neutral...........................
When Idea first appears!..............When people say yes to invite!!.............2 weeks before day
Eh.......................................Meh.............................................................................Look up "How to get Ebola Without Raising Suspicion" on Yahoo
1 week before day...............2 Days before when I buy groceries...............................Day before as I prep food
Okay fine, you changed my mind back..... those responses have INFP scribbled all over them
Never really understood the whole 'social obligation' thing.... I mean, with the intropeoples being half the population shouldn't the party throwers get it by now?
Well.... I guess I understand some of the obligation sort of stuff. I sometimes have to go home early just because of the expectation to wear cute shoes (a.k.a. shoes that have my feet screaming in 2.5 hours, not even talking heels but like anything that's not sneakers, lol) or something along those lines.
My response would be something like part of 1 and none of 2. I get excited for sure but depending on the occasion there may be some hesitation. And the talking to all sorts of people is sort of tricky because 'parties' for me fall into one of two categories: (1) sitting around, eating food, talking about stuff like family or school, and maybe watching a movie, and (2) The ones with the blaring music, dancing, and drinking, with conversations like "THIS SONG IS SO ANNOYING!" "HUH?" "BLABLABLABLABLABLA BLA SOMETHING SOMETHING SONG" "WHAT.... OH I LIKE THE SONG TOO" "CATCH YOU LATER" "I AGREE TATER TOTS ROCK HARDCORE" (person leaves and looks annoyed)
ohhhhh.......
Something tells me I'm going wrong in this party department when the questions on tests make no acknowledgement of these kinds of responses
Oh, and I sort of relate to the sequence of losing enthusiasm but more because it is looking more and more real and I'm seeing that it's not going to look nearly as cool as I saw it in my head.... I don't know if that plays into your kind of spiral or not...