Recharging an INFJ

Yesterday I had to go to the Northern Virginia Domestic Violence Community Annual Meeting, and before the meeting, I had to attend a networking breakfast with others who work in the field. Normally in large social settings I am the one on the wall or in a corner merely observing everyone else's interactions. Its the introvert in me. I'd rather be in small intimate social settings with close friends and people I know. But yesterday, I couldn't. While I knew a handful of the people there because I work with on a fairly regularly basis, most of there were foreign to me. I wanted nothing more than to find a corner, have a seat, and just watch as people talked and shared knowledge. But, surprisingly I didn't. I walked in and I found someone I knew, and I spoke. I introduced myself to people I didn't know. I even posed for pictures of the event to go on the website. I networked! I got my name and my face out there in this very tight nit community of people. I was proud of myself. While I wasn't a social butterfly bouncing around from circle to circle making small talk, I had made progress. I networked.

While I was proud of my personal accomplishment, I left the event feeling drained. I was mentally and emotionally overstimulated. I had just spent 5 hours out of my element. I wasn't able to cower behind my cell phone and interact with my friends via social networking. I had no safety net, no security blanket. I was actually engaged with my surroundings. The empath in me felt all of the raw emotions in the room from the different speakers, my pregnant coworker sitting next to me, the award recipients, and the presenters. I had to exert more energy than normal to not only calm my nerves and be engaged, but to not take on the cornucopia of feelings that were swirling around the room. By the time I got back to my office I was spent. I had become slightly annoyed, and I would have rather went home and went to sleep. But, I couldn't. I had a 3pm meeting that I had to prepare for. I had clients texting my phone needing to see me. I had to finish my day.

If I was slightly annoyed at 2 pm imagine how I felt by 6pm when I finally got home. All I wanted to do was get in bed (actually I wanted to curl up in Boo's arms but that option wasn't available). I needed to recharge. My batteries were deader than an iphone after 3 hours of use with no charger in sight. So, I went into my shell. The peace, quiet, and solace of my home was more than welcoming. The eucalyptus and spearmint candle that I lit in my room was more relaxing than normal. My Boo's basketball shorts and my favorite stuffed elephant provided an extra measure of comfort. I had plugged into my charger. Unlike most times when you plug your phone into the charger and keep using it as its charging, I had to turn me off. I couldn't take any more interaction with society. Because I couldn't interact with my known positive sources of energy (at least the one I wanted to interact with), I didn't want to risk taking on any negative energies that would deplete me any further. So, I simply went to sleep, and I woke up this morning with my batteries on 100%. Ready to take on this 12 hour work day. Ready to interact with society again.