I AM SO TIRED.
At the end of last week, all of sudden, I felt extreme fatigue that I had never experienced before; that was absolutely so-called meeting fatigue.
What happened to me?
I was doing OK-level digital detox as usual, the job was ( and is ) fine, and I was not sick, so I had no clue why I felt so exhausted except for the feeling that I wanted to be alone for a while.
I looked up on the Internet and found the term called "meeting fatigue" and its definition.
Then, I realised meeting fatigue was suffering me.
Also Read: Are you sick of human society? Digital Detox and Human detox are your answer
What is meeting fatigue?
Meeting fatigue is the fatigue caused by meeting people with no intervals in between for a long time.
The reason for this is that when you meet people, talking and getting to know each other triggers a higher level of dopamine
According to the article of Psychology Today "The Neuroscience of Conversations", "As we communicate, our brains trigger a neurochemical cocktail that makes us feel either good or bad, and we translate that inner experience into words, sentences, and stories. “Feel good” conversations trigger higher levels of dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, and other biochemicals that give us a sense of well-being."
To say this easily would be "Your brain is so excited when you talk with friends, and meet new people. This excitement makes you tired if you exceed a certain point."
When I felt fatigued last week, I naturally thought it was going to be not good to keep meeting people that way, so I talk to good friends of mine here in Sweden that I was really tired of meeting people.
With the full explanation, I have gently cancelled all the schedules for a couple of days.
Thanks to the kind understanding of my friends, now I have time to space out to rest my brain and body.
In addition to that, meeting people will cause decision fatigue because when you have a conversation with people, you think and you decide what to say or what not to say.
Also Read: How can I avoid decision fatigue? Extreme minimalist blogger teaches you an ultimate method.
The sustainable way to socialize and have time for yourself
There may be some people who can keep meeting people with no stop, but I found myself I'm not that type of person at least.
Since I am a solution-oriented person, I was trying to find a sustainable solution for both socialising and having time for myself with a good balance.
If I'm lost in decision-making, I always try to go back to the basic idea of minimalism which is to focus on something one by one.
Then I realised that setting a date when I don't meet people would be a great idea because this allows me to focus on myself if I am alone.
For example, if I want to have time for myself on Saturdays, then if someone even my best friend asks me to do something together on Saturday, I will tell my best friend that Saturday is the day that is for me.
Or if you set the day, then you can actually tell to your friends that you'll have the day for yourself on a specific day every week, so that they will not ask you to hang out that day and also you don't feel stressed refusing invitations.
To sum up this post, I would like to highlight that when you feel tired of socialising, it is a really good idea to focus on yourself and rest.
Life is too long to get tired so often.