The "New New" and Introvert Energy Meter

In this episode: I ditch the "update" title for something more descriptive titles, I pack my bags, and my inner nerd comes out with a new Introvert Energy Meter.

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Hey... is this thing on...? I know it's been a while since my last post but things have been S O hectic for me, in a good way. When I last wrote, I talked about my last little bit of time in Florida, and I had my sights set on moving to another city for a new job. I posted that last post while I was here in Tennessee, but I hadn't been here long enough to say anything meaningful, and enough had not transpired for me to write about anything. Normally that's all well and good, and no news is good news, but I also didn't have any growth to write about. In the name of keeping the quality of the content high, I didn't want to force out blog posts that were rushed or half-baked. I'm glad I didn't release anything half-baked, because my lack of time that I have to write here has made me appreciate the time that I do have to write.

So that being said, I should probably update you on my goings-on in growth. See, I may have gotten rid of the "update" title, but I'll always stay true to form and write these in the form of building on the previous one. Anywho, I did a little fear-setting exercise in the last post, and this time I did something a little less formal now that I got the idea of how to go about it. In coming to a new town far away from home, I didn't know anyone here, and I had more than week to kill before starting work. My internet provider wasn't able to get to my apartment and install service until a week after I arrived, so needless to say this was a really good start to life on my own with a good old test of patience. This is the South, so the pace of things here can be a little slow, but so far everyone has been very welcoming and friendly. I had reached out to people at the local mosque before moving here, and in talking to them I hoped to just have a connection so when I got here I would at least know one person or a small group. The Friday that I got here, I made it a goal to make it on time to make the Jummah prayer (Friday afternoon prayer in congregation). I also am a very shy person, and it takes a lot out of me to talk to a lot of people in a big group setting, so I wanted to try my best to meet people without completely sapping my energy to last me the rest of the day. I was able to go around and shake just about everyone's hand, and everyone was very welcoming. So the balancing act I tried to practice was finding a way to meet people here and be friendly in a way that doesn't completely sap me of my energy.

I'm still working on being more social in group settings, and trying to practice that balance. Last week, my workplace had a social event in which about 30-40 of us hung out and went to a Dave and Buster's kind of place in Louisville, which was a lot of fun. I saw it as an opportunity to get to know my co-workers and practice being in different group settings. I had a lot of fun meeting everyone, playing laser tag, and eating good food with like-minded people. At one point a little past halfway through the event, I started getting "peopled out". My introvert meter was really low, as I had been interacting with people for the whole two days before, as we had other work events. I knew I needed to have some time to recharge, but I felt a little weird leaving early. I thought back and forth on it for a little bit, but after a few minutes decided to listen to myself and head back to the hotel a little early. I had two important takeaways from this experience: the first was that I got a better feel for what group settings work for me, and more importantly that I listened to myself when I needed to. I'm glad that I stayed for most of the event, as it gave me practice to become more comfortable being in bigger group settings. It also gave me a chance to interact with my peers, and get to know them a little better. In addition, I got to look back and evaluate what things I still need to work on moving forward. Maybe that means finding smaller niches in bigger groups to reduce how quickly my introvert meter runs out, or just getting prolonged exposure to being in different settings to increase the capacity of the introvert meter.

So I've kind of been throwing around this term "introvert meter," and me being the nerd that I am, I decided to make an actual Introvert Meter that traces my heat signature and where I stand on the timeline of social interaction. I did it as a gradient to show how I go from cool colors where I am very "chill" to more red colors which indicate the urgency I feel to seek out alone time. The time length of it, for me at least, just depends on how many people I'm with and how long I'm with everyone. I've seen this represented as a fuel tank, which is also fair, but I kind of like the spectrum because it basically loops back around, but I just liked the colors better than a simple full-empty tank.

Introvert Energy Meter. I had too much fun making this.

For me, the biggest things were learning to be out there, extend my meter's time length, recognize my limits, and listen to myself when I need to relax. I ended up going back to just sit and relax alone in my hotel room, and just be. I'm really glad I did that, because it allowed me take time, be with my thoughts, and recharge before going out for the evening. That recharge also helped me because I ended up going to dinner with some new friends, and I wouldn't have been able to do that if I was burned out.

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Switching gears to journaling and affirmations, I know I've said like three different times that I'd update them, but after sitting down and really thinking about what affirmations need to considered, I really took stock of where I am and have been recently in life, and decided to go a different route. Mind you, I have only been doing these affirmations for a little over a month and a half now, but I feel they've been instrumental in helping me get to a better place in terms of self-esteem. I've decided to try to pivot from doing affirmations everyday to changing my journaling regimen to keep that self-esteem component. If you remember before, in my nightly journaling, I'd write about my day, I'd do a self-esteem journaling section which had pre-determined topics from a worksheet, and lastly I'd do a gratefulness journal. I've now shifted that second portion from a rigid worksheet guideline to a more free-form section, where I simply write things that I'm proud of or think I did well. It doesn't have to be anything big; it's sometimes as simple as "I made a good turkey sandwich for lunch." The point is to keep the positive aspects and focus on the good things we do that add value to our lives and the lives of others.

But overall life seems to be taking the right turns, and it's so different than what I ever thought it would be. I'm thankful for the way it's playing out, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've learned so much about myself and people and just life in general in the last two or three weeks. I hope the learning never ends.

I'm not 100% sure what I'll discuss next week, but expect it to be positive. Until then, I leave you with a song about new stuff. It's from back in big room house days. Enjoy!