Introvert Hangovers Are Real AF, I Know Because I Had One
Going on a vacation with your family can be difficult and anxiety-inducing. But going on a vacation with someone else’s family can feel like a week-long acting experience where you’re attempting to be pleasant and friendly but actually desperately want to hide in the bathroom with your phone for hours–especially if you’re an introvert.
On day three of a weeklong vacay with my BF’s family last week, I was feeling drained. I woke up with a throbbing headache that wouldn’t fade for the entire day. I mentioned to my boo that I felt hungover, which was funny because I hadn’t drank anything except copious bottles of water the day before.
I never get bad headaches (unless I’m actually hungover), but I chalked up the day-long headache to my period. I also slept that night for 14 fucking hours, which is absolutely unheard of for me. When I woke up the next day (at 1 p.m.), I still felt a dull ache in my head, but I sucked it up.
I didn’t think much of the weird sober hangover thing until I came across this article published on Science of Us about introvert hangovers. I know that introverts like myself need to “recharge” after lots of social time, I even read an entire book on our kind (Quiet by Susan Cain, check it out), but I had never heard of an introvert hangover.
As I read into the article about the elusive introvert hangover, one comment struck a chord with me in particular:
“I might need a whole day to myself to recharge after a party, and really feel like I was hung over: headache, nausea, fatigue, the whole shabang.”
Wait… this was me!
I legit made myself sick from trying too hard to socialize and not look like a loner-weirdo person to my BF’s fam. Sure, it worked (I think), but at what cost? When you’re on vacation with your own fam you can be a loner and anti-social all you want, but unfortunately when you’re trying to get strangers to like you, you have to pretend like you want to talk to them all day. It didn’t help that my BF’s family was legit together all the time and the only alone time I had was when I was going to sleep.
But, alas, although my introvert hangover was horrible, finding that article made me feel so much better about myself. Like, introversion is more than just an excuse for me to avoid small talk, it’s actually something I need to keep my physical health in check.
Sure, I probs couldn’t have dipped out on family pool time with my BF and his parents by telling them that if I didn’t go off alone I’d get an introvert hangover, but at least I can pat myself on the back for getting through on of the most socially exhausting weeks of my life. Yay me.
