Busy times can take a lot out of an introvert.
No matter how much we might try to avoid them, everyone goes through a busy spell here and there.
Maybe you’ve got a really busy month at work. Maybe your whole family has a really busy month socially and personally. Or maybe it’s a holiday season.
While it’s ideal to learn to say no, balance your social life, and make time to recharge, sometimes doing all of that genuinely isn’t an option.
Here are eight tips to help you navigate these unavoidable busy periods as an introvert.
Let go of non-essential responsibilities
What’s non-essential is going to vary based on you, your life, and your busy period. Be honest with yourself and take some pressure off by letting go of what you can.
If you’re not having people over during this busy period, consider letting go of your regular cleaning schedule. You may want to keep things from getting too gross, but not running the vacuum as often won’t be the end of the world.
If you cook every night, maybe you order out a few times a week.
Whatever you decide to let go of, it doesn’t have to be a new normal if you do so intentionally.
Know that this time will pass and you can get back into your normal routine when things calm down.
And when you let go of the task, let go of the guilt and obligation that often comes with not doing a task. You need your energy and brainpower for other things.
Give yourself permission to let go completely and know that you’ll get back on track when you have breathing room again.
Steal downtime when you can
Maybe you have to sacrifice some of your regular downtime to fit in the extra obligations you have during this busy stretch.
This, of course, isn’t ideal, but it’s understandable.
However, it’s important to make sure you don’t cut your downtime out altogether. Instead, make it a point to steal any recharge time you can.
This may mean catching up on a show for half an hour while dinner’s cooking, or turning up the music really loudly in the car on the way home from work.
I try to give myself one solid down day a week to recharge, but if things are so busy that I can’t get myself a whole day, I try to steal 24 hours.
I may decide that I have until 3 PM on Friday to do what I have to do. Then I won’t make any other plans or commitments until 3 PM the following day.
This way I still meet my obligations on both Friday and Saturday, but I managed to squeeze in 24 hours of downtime.
Turn down non-essential invites
I’ve said before on this blog that one solid way to reign in your social life and create a happier introvert life is to say no to things you genuinely don’t want to do.
And while that’s always true, it becomes pretty essential during a busy period.
In order to survive a busy time with some semblance of balance, you have to say no to things. Starting with saying no to the things you don’t want to do is typically the easiest.
It’s also a good idea to push anything non-essential invite you do want to participate in until after your busy period, if that’s an option.
If you have a friend who is looking to catch up, let them know you’d love to see them, but you’ll have to check back in after this busy period has passed.
It’s also helpful to make peace with missing somethings you want to attend that may not be as easily rescheduled. It may suck to miss out on something, but be honest with yourself.
If you’re really run down and in need of recharging, how much fun is that event going to be for you? 97% of the time it won’t be fun for you at all.
Your time and energy are stretched thin enough, don’t make things harder for yourself by committing to things and people who don’t absolutely need your time and energy. Even if it’s something you want to do with people you want to see.
Take time off of work if you can
Not everyone has this option, but if you have some vacation or sick days saved up, now would be a good time to use one or two.
You can use these days to leisurely complete some items on your to-do list or recharge.
As far as I’m concerned, sick days are for you to take care of your health. Recharging is vital to the health of an introvert. So if you need to take a sick day to recharge, you should do so guilt-free.
Cut yourself a break
No matter how much you try to pare down, things will likely fall through the cracks.
Give yourself a break when this happens. Know that you are doing your best, and at some point, that has to be enough.
And if you find you’re dropping the ball on a regular basis, that’s likely a sign that you’re doing too much.
If you’re sure there isn’t anything else you can cut, move on to the next tip to help with this.
Ask for help
You may need help with the day-to-day things you usually handle, or you may need help tacking a task during this busy period (like planning a party).
Whatever you’re finding yourself overwhelmed with, it’s important to ask for the help you need.
This is especially true if the task you need help with benefits others as much as it does you.
For instance, if you do happen to be planning a part that many others in your family will attend and benefit from, ask them to help you with this process.
Or, if you’re the one who does most of the household cleaning, see if someone else you live with can help you out. You all benefit from a clean house.
Alternatively, if you have the funds, you might consider hiring someone to complete a task you don’t have the time or energy to do right now, such as cleaning the house or maintaining the lawn.
This doesn’t have to be a new normal, but it can help you get through this busy stretch.
Plan some serious recovery time post-busy period
And I mean serious recovery time. Recovering from a busy period is typically most successful in two stages.
First, recover yourself.
This means you take all the time you need to recharge and get your energy levels back to where they need to be.
There’s still no reason to be concerned with the non-essential tasks you dropped to manage your busy period. They should maintain their non-essential status until you’re recharged.
For ideas on how to recharge, check out this post.
Then, you can turn your attention to the tasks you dropped and get things back on track.
This doesn’t have to happen overnight, so give yourself time for your normal to fall back into place.
It’s also really helpful if you know when your busy period should let up. Once you do, block out your recharge time and have some idea of what you might want to do.
This will give you something to look forward to when things get particularly chaotic.
Looking for more in-depth tips on how to build your best, happiest introvert life?
If you want to dig a little deeper into this topic, check out the Introvert Life Guide!
This guide was designed to help you build the introvert life of your dreams.
It will also help you embrace your introverted nature and build a life to help you thrive!
For more introvert life tips, check out the other introvert posts!
Sound off: What helps you navigate busy times as an introvert? Tell us about it in the comments!