Every personality gains and gives energy differently. Often, people distinguish how they might get energy based off of whether they are an extrovert or an introvert.
In general, they say extroverts gain energy by being around people and introverts gain energy by being by themselves. As always there are all ranges of these two and there have been other categories added.
Growing up I was a hardcore extrovert but as time has gone on, I’ve become more of an introvert. I enjoy and love spending time around others but I need time to myself as well to be able to fully think through and process.
I can often give energy and get energy at the same time, but it’s not endless like it used to be. When I visit back home it’s always a give and take time. It requires a lot of my energy to pour into people when I visit, but I get a lot back. However, I never quite get as much back as I give and it can be incredibly wearying.
It’s often hard to know where to focus your energy and it can be good to plan ahead of time what this is going to look like, but I’ve always been so spontaneous, it’s not very enjoyable for me to have to plan a lot ahead of time. It drains my energy even more. Things just have to happen.
I just wrote a post yesterday about rest, but sometimes it’s hard to know what rest really looks like. What kind of rest is important for you to have. Sometimes it’s time doing nothing, sometimes it’s time doing a lot of things.
Time investment is a hard thing, and it’s something I still struggle to know how to do well. It’s hard to know how to balance time and relationships. It’s clear that there is a level you get to in relationships where you cannot maintain quality if there is too much quantity.
Hopefully I learn the secret sometime before I lose many of the relationships I have built over the years.