Kina Diaries: Introverted (Patreon)
Content
First let me hammer this in: I am so grateful for these opportunities, so grateful to experience them, to grow from them, to have been offered them in the first place. This week has just been a good reminder of one important little fact: I am an introvert.
Knowing my fans, I imagine this is a statement that resonates with a good many of you. Introversion is an interesting thing. It's commonly mistaken with simply being quiet or shy--often traits of introverts--but the most important thing is this: where do you get your energy? Do you recharge from your time alone, or do you get energy from being around people?
I'm coming up to the finish line this week. By the end of tonight I will have played at a gala, a holiday party, and a YouTube event, shot two videos, conducted an interview, presented an award at a gala, and been "social" more times than my little introvert brain can remember. All amazing things! But then why have I felt constantly on the edge of a minor breakdown? :/
More and more I'm realizing the importance of protecting and creating alone time for myself, especially when things get busy. For my happiness, for my stress level, and simply for my ability to continue giving my all to the things (and people) I love.
I am also finding the importance in being kinder to myself. Socializing can be extremely hard for me. It can also be incredibly exhausting. I have a lot of stress leading up to it and a lot of stress following it. I struggle to find my step, to remember who I am amidst all the people and stimuli around me. I often leave with a pit in my stomach, a sense of failure--that I wasn't fully able to be myself, that I was too in my head, that I said or did something wrong.
The problem is I love people. I love connecting with them. I love sharing experiences with them. So if it was as easy as just not connecting and being okay with that, or simply building a life where I didn't have to be "on" or around people ever, that'd be one thing, but I crave these connections. This is something I've been working on since as long as I can remember, and while I've made huge strides over the years, it's something that I am constantly struggling with.
Introversion is often perceived in our society as the lesser of the two traits. The weak one. The quiet one. But history has shown that introverts have their important place as well--the Einsteins, Gandhis, artists, healers, philosophers. I have spent a lot of my life feeling less than, feeling that something was wrong with me because some things don't come easy to me, but I am trying to change this. I'm trying to embrace all of myself. I know that without my introverted nature I would not have spent so much time alone, thinking, feeling, observing the world around me--all things that are 100% the reason I am pulled to create music. My introversion is in many ways my strength. And so I begin the process of forgiving myself for not always knowing how to be, for sometimes feeling uncomfortable and overwhelmed, for hiding in bathrooms for a break at social gatherings, for choosing a night in over a night out when I feel my heart asking for some quiet. If those are the repercussions of being myself, maybe they're not bad or wrong. Maybe they just are. Maybe I can be okay with that. Maybe not feeling that I'm broken will actually allow me to be more comfortable being myself.
Interestingly, there is one thing that involves other people that is purely energizing and life-giving for me, and that is playing music for you guys. Whether it's playing shows on tour or sitting in front of a computer streaming it out from my home to yours, that fuels me. And so, strangely, as I've dragged myself along this week, the light at the end of the tunnel was you. Tomorrow morning I get to make myself some tea, cozy up in front of my computer, and share in the experience of music with my online family.
Thank you for being a safe space. Thank you for supporting and encouraging and inspiring me.
xo
Kina