The hardest thing about being an introvert is living with other people?

[anissa834]

I am an introvert and I always hear other introvert talking about having to deal with the outside world.

They talk about how having to deal with loud chatty coworkers or demanding customers drains them.

But to me, the hardest thing about being introverted is living with other people.

I come from a Nigerian household and it was very crowded. I have 5 brothers and 6 sisters.

Our 5 brothers all slept in the basement and me and my sisters shared one room.

Our living conditions wasn't downright deplorable but it wasn't ideal either. The house was always very noisy and somewhat chaotic and messy. And most Africans are very chatty and social and for most African Boomers and gen X, being a family means always doing things together, going on family outings whenever we have a bit of free times ,chatting away and generally being In the same room constantly and it's somewhat anti social to want some alone time and do things alone.
The thing I dreaded the most was the interrogations about my performance at work. our parents would ask about my progress and performance at work, what I did that particular day, if I am planning for higher positions and I always felt like I was sitting on a hot seat whenever they would corner me with these interrogations. My siblings felt the same way.

Another thing was the obscene amount of chores. The more people living in one house, the more chores there is to do. And the meal prep takes a lot longer.

And the last thing is the occasional nagging and bickering. Wether it was between me and my siblings or my parents arguing with each other and when African parents argue, it gets pretty loud and they have a pretty potty mouth. Especially the African men in the household.

The only way for me to get some alone time was to go out for a walk, go to some library to chill, sit on a bench in a park or go out for a joyride in my car.

Now that I have a decent paying job, I live alone and I love. My social battery still drains because of work and other coworkers but at the end of the day I come home to a nice cozy quiet apartment.

That's a large family! My dad was one of eight so I always wondered how on earth they managed, but your family is another level!

Luckily my family was much smaller and I had my own room. My parents didn't really understand introversion but fortunately weren't the types to interfere much so were happy to consider me a bit odd and let me get on with it.

I have happily lived with other people (family, halls of residence, student house, a boyfriend) but definitely prefer living alone.

That is a large family OP!
I'm an only child of two introverted parents, living with DH and 2 DSs, who are still at home.
I manage the inside of our home, DH the outside.
I'm an introvert by nature too, and find I want to leave when conversations turn to man-talk, with the 3 of them: politics, state of the world, the latest in technology.
Sometimes I listen and participate, but mostly I time out, tune out and get going.
I retreat to the bedroom to read for a bit, busy myself doing something out of the room, come on MN, or go to bed earlier, just for some alone time, which I guess I'll always need.