Keri Weems(also a church planting wife) shared how church used to be exhausting for her.  True they pastor thousands of people.  She would rally herself up to be an extrovert instead of embracing her true self.  She shared that she did not know who she was or accept it.  It is good to accept and embrace our limitations.  I recognize that I am more comfortable being a wall flower, fading in the background and just observing.  I am most comfortable with one on one interactions more than a group setting.

She shared as an introvert, her relational capacity has limits.  Extroverts tend to be energized by being around people where introverts need their alone time to recharge. 

She realized she needed quiet downtime after church or after a teaching conference etc.  She realized she needed to give herself space and time between people events.  

As she shared I found myself saying, “Me too! Me too!”.  I am so grateful for her honesty because it gives me courage to live authentically.  Her wisdom from coming back from burnout helps others hopefully not experience it.   

We can all be misunderstood at times.  Introvert does not mean I don’t like people or being around them.  I love people and being with them and hearing their stories and experiencing our stories together but God has wired me to need alone time as well.  Just like an extrovert can feel cooped up and long to be with people after a few days of being alone, I feel the need to retreat and be alone after being with people for awhile.  It is a rhythm and balance that I am interested in exploring.

More to come on next posts on how I am learning to live authentically and embrace who God made me to be.

A cool blogpost I found on the topic of introverts, Introverted, It’s Just the Way we Are.  And like anything- we are all unique.  Not all introverts will fit this definition.  This is just a general defintion.

A book on introverts that I want to read is Quiet.

If you are curious of your personality type, a free test here: Truity