Returning to People

I am on the last full day of a conference in Florida and I am exhausted. I have forgotten what it is like to be around people so much. I live alone and work from home, which creates a different kind of exhaustion. All of a sudden, I am thrown in with hundreds of people, eating breakfast and lunch with them starting at 7:45 a.m.. Last night, there was a group dinner so I was with people for a twelve hour stretch. During a break, I went and hid in my hotel room, just so I wouldn't have to talk to people.

Now I think I can very slightly relate to people who are depressed. I can see why they want to be alone and shut down. 

In one of today's sessions, someone talked about the Human Stress Curve in dealing with a crisis. According to this chart, which I re-drew, I had reached the exhaustion stage. After today's sessions, I went to my hotel room, put on my bathing suit and sat by the pool and read a book.

Just as the initial quarantine was super stressful, returning to people could be just as stressful.