Social Anxiety

Brent Simmons, on social interactions as an introvert:

If you speak a sentence to me, I hear a paragraph. If you speak a paragraph, I hear your life story.

...But if you raise your hand for a high-five, or hold out a fist for a bump, it won’t even occur to me to wonder why you’re doing those things. You’re just doing those things. Why would there be a reason?

For years I’ve been searching for how to explain why I have social anxiety, why social interactions are so exhausting. Brent’s experiences match mine to a tee.

I wonder if all I’ve done here is to describe why introverts frequently describe being social as tiring.

That you have, Brent. That you have.