Introverts at work: how do you cope?

In a former workplace I used to have an empty office beside me and I would go in there to meditate at lunch time. I had and office mate. I don't know why employers love people to share. I think it's invasive.

I ignore them because they are fucking weird!

Become self-employee and work from home, coffee shops, and co-working spaces.

Introverts are self centered little saps.

SNAP OUT OF IT!

I'm an introvert, and a genius, so there. :-)

It ain't easy. I remember how much I loved having my own office and being able to shut the door.

If you are relegated to the staff room, try putting on headphones and reading or pretending to listen to an audiobook.

Here's a video that shows an introvert coping with an extreme extrovert. The singer and the guy hunched over co-wrote the song. After having co-written two hit songs, the introvert retired to a small town in Wales.

We do what we have to do at work, op.

I'm a major introvert, but I also know that I have a job to do.

I suffer from anxiety and depression, also. Still, I have to "fake it 'til I make it" because I'm also a supervisor, and I have to deal with a lot of different people in my job capacity.

I have to admit that I drink to control my anxiety and fear (usually before work) and it calms me down enough to be able to cope.

It's almost like self-medicating, and sometimes I get my "dosage" wrong, to the point where I show up to work a little bit more "tipsy" than I would like. But it's the only way I can face the day, to be perfectly honest.

I sober up during the day, and then take a nap at my desk at lunch.

Then on the weekends, I shut myself in and spend Friday night through Monday morning by myself.

It re-charges me, and then it's back to the grind on Monday.

Whatever. I do what I have to do.

Couldn’t some people calling themselves introverts just be bitter crabs?

R8 nope. We suffer while people like you make fun.

First, congratulate yourself on dealing with people all day as part of your job!! I tried working as an extreme introvert and went through a dozen jobs or so - because I'd just reach my absolute limit, on the verge of breaking down. (I'm old now and retired and so grateful not to work)

When I did work though, I would get out - drive around - pick up food at a drive through - if the weather was ok, I might just take a walk and eat a sack lunch or something from a machine. I do think R6 has some good ideas with the headphones - these days, so many people are constantly on their phones anyway, so it wouldn't stick out as much.

Oh and maybe you could put a yoga mat in that room - or in a backpack or something - and still use the room, sitting on the floor.

Gawd, you still sound 'on' OP.

Think about this for a second......imagine those who have to work with YOU.

Books.

Lots and lots and lots of books.

And OP works in a library! So of course is a bookworm.

What about this, OP? It worked for George Costanza.

Thank you for your input, R11! Yes, sounding “on” is a strategy we adopt to function in an extravert world. I’m fine at work, and love my co-workers and the kids I interact with, but it’s draining.

Thank you to all who replied with advice. I tend to function more like R7, recharging in solitude on my days off and self-medicating when I have to.

We’re not “bitter crabs”, R8 - we’re just people who (at risk of sounding like Roxane Gay) become mentally [italic]exhausted[/italic] when we have to be social, thus the need to be alone in our heads to recharge. We’re not necessarily “weird”; this current culture is just obsessed with outward-facing energy.

Ha, R14 - When I had a more private job, I actually did nap under my desk at lunch!

(I was also dating a DJ and staying up all night at raves, so…)

Cigarettes are shit for your health but also the perfect excuse to go outside and disengage.

I'm lucky because I'm an introvert but I'm able to open up when I get to know people, especially people I feel comfortable with. Right now I get along with most of the people I work with, they're nice. I have no trouble being social at work.