Connection Costs Energy. It’s Still Worth It.

Note: I realized that since I’m making all material available to all subscribers, free and paid, it makes sense to just include the article version in the “show notes.” If you’d rather read than watch a video or listen to audio, the Article Version is below the Resources.

This one is a little different.

I recorded most of this episode in the car while Janet and I were on our way to The Morning Cup Toastmasters 10th Anniversary Summit. (Janet was driving. I promise.)

It had been one of those weeks when everything seemed to happen at once. I’d finished a book draft, written a prequel while the manuscript was with an editor, helped prepare for the Summit, and gotten ready to lead both a session on story structure and an ecumenical worship service.

And somewhere in there, Friday arrived without a regular episode ready to go.

So, inspired partly by my friend Mark Leslie Lefebvre and his remarkable streak of showing up every Friday with Stark Reflections for (at this writing) close to 500 episodes, I decided to hit Record anyway.

The audio isn’t great. There’s road noise I couldn’t completely remove. The episode is short. But it led me into something I’ve thought about for years: being an introvert doesn’t mean I don’t need or enjoy people.

In fact, sometimes the things that drain us can also be things that matter deeply to us.

The Big Takeaway

Introversion and human connection aren’t opposites.

I can look forward to spending a weekend with friends, speaking, teaching, laughing, and connecting with people while also knowing that, when it’s over, I’m going to need some serious quiet time.

Understanding that about myself helps me make room for both.