When You Don’t Take Care of Your Introvert Needs, You Pay

To be consistently healthy and happy as an introvert, you’ve got to make sure that you take care of your introvert needs.

Why should you give a damn about taking care of yourself each day in the context of your introversion, specifically?

Why should you bother making sure you get what you need as an introvert?

After all—don’t you have enough to worry about in life?

Think about it.

You already have to monitor and manage your physical health. And your mental health. And your emotional health. And your spiritual health. And your financial health. And your relationship health. And your career health.

And on and on.

Do you really need to add “your introvert health” to the list?

Yes.

In fact, it’s dangerous not to.

When Introvert Needs Go Unmet

Let’s examine why by using the introvert life management model I’ve developed: The 4 Pillars of Introvert Well-Being.

It looks like this:

Briefly, the roof of the structure represents your overall well-being as an introvert.

The four pillars—Solitude, Reflection, Focus, and Depth—are the four most critical things you need consistently in life to be healthy and happy as the introvert are.

And it all rests on a crucial foundation: you having a positive self-concept of yourself as an introvert.

What happens to you—what happens to the roof of the structure (i.e., your well-being)—if one or more or, God forbid, all of these elements are weak or, worse, 
essentially non-existent for you in your daily life?

Well, at best you struggle. The roof teeters, as does your well-being.

And at worst?

The whole thing crumbles.

You crumble.

The High Cost of Neglect

To see what I’m getting at, all you have to do is take a one-by-one tour of the elements of The 4 Pillars model in their weakened/non-existent state.

Suppose, for example, that you get little or none of the Solitude you need as an introvert—the quiet time alone that helps you recharge your metaphorical batteries.

Before long, you have little or no energy to work with, for yourself or for others.

Suppose you get little or none of the Reflection time you need as an introvert—the thinking time that helps you prepare for things before they happen, handle things as they happen, and process things after they’ve happened.

Before long, you’re stressed virtually all the time about virtually everything.

Suppose you get little or none of the Focus you need—the ability to work without unending interruptions and distractions, and to zero in on one task at a time instead of trying to juggle a dozen.

Before long, you’re frustrated beyond words—and overwhelmed and frazzled to boot.

Suppose you get little or none of the Depth you need—you can’t sink your teeth into your favorite activities, and you don’t get to have the deep conversations with people that you so crave.

Before long, you’re left feeling like you’re being cheated out of something—because you are.

And suppose, on top of everything else, that your self-concept as an introvert is shaky. You really, truly feel—you’ve been made to feel—that something is fundamentally wrong with you, simply and solely because you’re an introvert.

Before long, your spirit is wounded. You think you need to be fixed—that you need to change yourself.

But you don’t.

You need to be yourself.

Be Proactive in Meeting Your Introvert Needs

Which brings us full circle—which in turn means you do indeed need to give a damn about taking care of yourself from an introvert perspective, along with all the other perspectives that are a part of your everyday existence.

If you don’t, the cost is high.

Too high.

And when you factor in the other people in your life—the people you love and care about—you won’t be paying that price by yourself.