So, you’re finally home from your latest social event and you’re feeling burnt out. It’s normal for introverts to need alone time and to wonder how to recharge as an introvert. But, introverts need more than alone time for them to recharge.
They need to spend time and energy on themselves and refresh their perspective. While it’s important to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and make new social connections, it’s also important to recognize that it takes a toll on you.
Use these 23 tools to help you thrive as an introvert and learn ways to recharge so that you can go back to enjoying social events while also enjoying time for yourself.
This post is all about how to recharge as an introvert.
RECHARGE AS AN INTROVERT:
1. Make sure you get enough sleep
The easiest way to recharge and reset is by sleeping. This is why getting enough sleep is a great way to recharge your social battery.
When you’re struggling to get through social events, sleep is the first step to giving yourself some much-needed quiet time so that you can prepare for future social interactions.
2. Use Sunday mornings to relax and prepare for the week
When all else fails, steal time for yourself by making Sunday morning your best friend. Choose when you get up, if you don’t have kids or pets waiting on you, and create a relaxing, quiet space for yourself.
This can look like wrapping yourself in a blanket while you plan out the week or it can look like taking a random nap because you deserve it. Let Sundays be your catch-all where you catch up on stressful tasks and make time for the tasks that fall by the wayside (like sleeping).
3. Focus on your positive emotions
Introverts can get cranky when they’re overstimulated by social situations. It takes energy to be negative and it’s draining. So, it’s important to find reasons for peace and gratitude to re-center yourself.
When you’re home and you have time to recharge, focus on why you were grateful to hang out with people, why you’re grateful to be home, and what makes you grateful to be alive. Come up with three reasons and focus on those reasons for gratitude to recharge.
4. Take some deep breaths
Sometimes, it’s important to return to the basics. When everything else feels impossible because you don’t have the energy to do anything, you can always rely on breathing.
Breathe deeply until you can feel the breath fill up your abdomen down to your diaphragm. This is one of the simplest ways to slow your mind down and reconnect your mind to your body.
5. Engage in creative activities
Nurture your creativity with activities that allow you to show off your own abilities. Everyone has the potential to be creative if they give themselves the chance in a peaceful environment where their inner introvert can relax and unwind.
There’s no better escape than creative writing in the form of a story or poem, painting a landscape, or dancing to music in any way that your body tells you to.
6. Do your mindfulness practices
At its core, mindfulness is all about you noticing what you do daily. Instead of moving through your daily routine half-awake and half-aware, you notice what’s going on.
You notice your breathing or if you’re tensing your shoulders or if you’re falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Mindfulness, at its core, really just means that you’re training yourself to stay aware in the moment and, for lack of a better phrase, “live in the moment.”
7. Prepare a hot drink for yourself
Pour yourself some piping hot tea or coffee. Keep in mind that the goal here is not to artificially wake yourself up or fight your body’s instincts.
Instead, you want to let your brain and body tell you what you need to feel better, especially after you’ve gone into introvert overload. So, roll up on the couch with a blanket and sip a warm drink to pamper yourself.
8. Choose the company of others wisely
There are a lot of people out there who will drain your energy and give nothing in return. You’ll walk away from time with them with low energy levels and want nothing more than to spend time by yourself doing solitary activities.
These are the people you can kick out of your life. Maybe you stop responding to their texts or you quit offering to host them. You are in charge of the people you keep in your life and it’s okay to let some people leave when their relationship with you is draining.
If anything, let them reach out and see if they put as much energy into the relationship as you do so that maybe they don’t drain your energy as much as they used to.
9. Go for a long drive
You can recharge by getting out of the house. You can drive around or visit your favorite local spot of nature. You’d be surprised how much getting away from your typical surroundings can help you get a fresh perspective and rejuvenate you.
Sometimes, the best way to get over your introvert hangover is to get away from the bright lights and loud noises so you can enjoy your own company and nature all around you.
10. Enjoy deep conversations with people you know well
When you’re overloaded and need a break before any more social activities, keep in mind that you might recharge yourself from a deep conversation with someone.
There’s something invigorating about talking to someone you care about and discussing something you care about. While it can be scary to enter social settings again, remember that recharging can look like spending time with a close friend.
11. Limit your small talk at a social gathering
If you need an introvert recharge mid-social event, it’s a great idea to set boundaries with the people around you. They never need to hear these boundaries stated explicitly, especially if they are people you won’t see until the next round of holiday gatherings.
Limit the amount of small talk you let people rope you into by excusing yourself. Use this as a chance to get alone time or use it as a chance to find someone who can talk to about something meaningful.
12. Get out of the house to enjoy some fresh air
The most effective recharge routine is the one you’ll do regularly. You should want to do the routine as a form of self care and can do it often enough that your busy introvert self can survive.
The goal here is to thrive as an introvert and still participate in social events as often as you want or have to (like during the work week).
That’s why one of the best ways to recharge is to schedule a short walk into your day. You can even opt for a long run if that’s more your speed. Find a way to get out of the house so that you can breathe fresh air and refresh yourself.
13. Spend time with a close friend
Hang out with a friend. Get that deep connection that warms you inside and makes you feel complete by meeting up with a close friend.
Choose someone who you can easily talk to without feeling like you’re faking it. There’s nothing more exhausting and less conducive to recharge than masking your real feelings and reactions with a friend.
14. Curl up with a good book
Cliché or not, it’s okay to escape. If your favorite way to recharge is by visiting your favorite fictional characters, then steep a cup of tea, light some candles, and sit in a cozy chair.
Sometimes, the best way to recharge is the simplest way. You don’t have to develop an elaborate routine to feel recharged or for it to feel like an act of self-care.
15. Find a way to get some alone time
If you struggle to get time away from your family, job, or schoolwork, focus on alone time. While all of the activities on this blog will help you recharge, the most important thing is alone time. Find any extra time you can when you can focus on you.
Maybe it’s five minutes at the end of the day or waking up thirty minutes early to sit with your own thoughts. Make time for yourself in whatever way feels most realistic because the external stimuli will come at you even if you’re not prepared for it.
16. Move your body in a way that feels good to you
Exercise and move your body. Forget the influencers on social media who tell you that exercise has to look one way for it to count. You can enjoy moving your body and still count it as exercise that keeps you active and energized.
This might look like dancing to your favorite playlist for ten minutes or walking outside for half an hour. Find a way to move your body that feels good to you and stick with it to recharge regularly.
17. Show yourself some love with a homemade meal
Depending on how many resources you have at your disposal (time, transportation, and money), you may not be able to go all out with a three-course meal for the ages.
But, you can still get a premade meal from a local grocery store, order takeout, or make yourself a simpler version of what you are craving. Spend time on yourself because you deserve to spend time on something that has the sole purpose of nourishing and bringing you joy.
18. Pamper yourself with face masks and aromatherapy
Run a bubble bath, get a clay face mask, and get some aromatherapy going. Not only does warm water relax your body, but the alone time from the bath will relax you.
When you need a quick pick-me-up, you can also do a face mask during the week. Bath or not bath, you can recharge yourself with some pampering and body care.
19. Journaling about your thoughts and feelings
Let your thoughts out on paper or a screen. It’s much more cathartic to write it out, but you can type it out or use a stylus if that’s more accessible.
However you go about it, remember that this activity is designed to ease the tension inside of your head. Release some of that tension by reflecting on your thoughts once they’re outside of your head.
20. Say no to multitasking
Focus on one activity in your time. Our brains are hardwired to focus on one activity at a time. The moment you think you’re multitasking, you’re just switching your focus rapidly, which means that you take longer to get back into the activity and decreases your productivity.
Plus, it’s exhausting and it can add more tasks to the plate of an introvert who is already stretched too thin and in need of a social recharge.
21. Stay away from technology for a few hours
Detox from technology. We all need it in our lives because it’s everywhere and it helps us connect the majority of the people in our lives. But, it also can be harmful and anxiety-inducing for introverts.
So, it’s a good idea to take breaks from it when we notice it affecting our mental health. Maybe this means we leave our phone in the other room or we turn off notifications for an hour.
22. Watch your favorite comfort TV show or movie
Turn on the show or movie that makes you feel good and lets you unwind. The goal is not to dissociate or distract yourself from the discomfort of burnout. Instead, you need a break and you deserve to give that to yourself, especially when you haven’t had one for a long time.
At the same time, make sure that you’re working through the discomfort and truly recharging your social battery instead of just “surviving.”
23. Develop a plan to avoid future burnout
Create a plan for yourself to use in the future. This plan can include a few go-to activities that help you recharge your introvert battery and strategies to keep yourself from experiencing burnout for as long as possible.
Make sure this plan feels doable to you in your energized state as much as it feels doable to you in your exhausted state.
