Long periods without talking to anyone

I love being alone and wouldn't mind not talking to people. However, many people seem to think that I am the only one who can assist/help them and I am bombarded with people and their demands everyday. On my days off, although I live with my sister, we can operate with comfortable silence without the need to jibber jabber at each other for the sake of noise. I frequently immerse myself in my inner world and enjoy shutting everything out. I just don't get the ability to be alone very often.
 
Once I have my personal space, I much prefer spending time with people I like.

Honestly, I don't feel like anything is different whether it's been an hour or a weekend since I've really talked to anyone. In fact, I'm finding more and more that, for me, time alone is time wasted. I need time to reorganize my thoughts and reground myself (dunno if 'recharge' is right here), but after that, I'm ready again.
 
I go most weekends without talking to anybody. I'm in my own head enough that as long as I have books and the internet I'm good to go for quite a while. I'm planning on going on a vacation next year for two weeks and people are shocked when I tell them I'm probably going alone. Some people just don't understand that I don't need other people to fulfill my life.
 
I do quite a lot of mentoring, counseling type work at the church I work at, mostly younger teachers, pastors, despite feeling a bit young for the role. I enjoy it, it is fulfilling, I feeling like I am filling a need that is lacking. It is also well known in my circle that I am an introvert and may not physically be around, but they can always call or email me on those days that I'm not. I am working with and around large groups twice a week for maybe 8 to 12 hours at a time...it takes me a few days to be alone to recharge from that.The graphic design work I do is done alone, so it works out. Understanding that introversion wasn't some mental illness like some extroverts implied, I became more comfortable with taking that time to be alone.
 
As much as I want to keep my mouth shut, I can't. I need to talk to people on a daily basis otherwise I go insane (well I don't, but I start talking to myself out loud).
I can go for hours without talking to people but not a whole day.

An effective way to stop me from talking is to tape my mouth shut with duct tape.
 
I think not talking to people for long periods of time would drive me nuts!
I can't isolate myself, it is just very depressing and detrimental to my mental health. I seriously need interaction with people on a daily basis. If it's not friends or colleagues, then it's always family.
 
At one point I took a college course over winter term and virtually no one was on campus. Save for that one class, I went weeks without human contact. My room looked like a wreck afterward, but other than that it was great. I relish alone time. If it were up to me, I'd spend about 90% of my time alone. There's so much chaos in the world, and when you live in your head, it's easy for that to impinge on your internal world. Since I got my 9-5 job I seldom feel like I can really think clearly.
 
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