Something I’ve come to realize over the past year is this: finding alone time in college is hard. As an introvert in college, finding alone time can sometimes be tricky and explaining why you need alone time to someone can be even trickier. There is so much pressure to be constantly busy and involved on campus, and while that may be fun, I sometimes find it hard to get a moment for myself. Don’t get me wrong – I love hanging out with friends and participating in all the amazing activities on campus, but my social battery can only last for so long. That’s why I value my alone time so much – it gives me the time to refresh and recharge, so I can simply feel good about myself.
I can be by myself the entire day but still need a quiet place to escape to at night. During the day, my mind is focused on school and all of my extra curricular activities, and even if I haven’t had that many social interactions, I still feel drained and exhausted. We all know how hard it is to be college student, especially when you’re juggling multiple responsibilities at a time. As an introvert, my alone time is necessary in order for me to feel ready to face whatever is coming next. I always look forward to the night time where I can put my headphones in and either listen to some good music or watch a show on Netflix. Because when wake up the next morning, I have to be prepared for the day and feel rested physically, mentally and emotionally, which is the best possible combination in order to be successful.
Some extroverts take introverts’ need for alone time personally, and that is just simply not the case. It’s not that I don’t want to hang out with you, or that I don’t enjoy being with you, it’s that in order to hang out with you, I’m going to need to have this time to charge my social battery so we can have a good time later. Some people have jokingly told me, “your idea of a perfect day is sitting in a dark room with your headphones in and not talking to anyone.” And they’re right, that does sound pretty sweet. But that doesn’t mean that I’m antisocial or that I don’t know how to talk to people. There are some days that I am extremely social,other days that I am not, and some days where I am in between. My first semester of college I took advantage of all the activities and events offered on campus, which allowed me to meet so many new people and some of my best friends, but I felt physically and emotionally exhausted all the time. I later learned that finding a happy medium was important for me and that in order to feel better, I needed to schedule some time for myself. Now I have a good schedule established, one that gives me time for myself and also for others as well.
Lastly, something I’ve learned over the years is that it’s okay to say no if you’re not feeling up to hanging out. It’s okay to stay in instead of going out and not feel guilty about it. If it makes you feel better, then it’s okay. Alone time is one of my forms of self care, a necessary part of my daily routine and something I should never feel bad about needing. Alone time is important and it’s as simple as that.