Extro-activities

As I mentioned in a previous post, the weekend I'm writing this post I'm sponsoring the Level Up Conference to encourage churches to reach out in new ways to new places.  

What I want to write about this morning, though, isn't about this specific conference. It happens everywhere. This morning, one of the presenters, at the beginning his talk, asked everyone to turn to the person next to them, give them a high five, and say "Let's Level Up." 

I'm an introvert.  That doesn't mean I'm shy. It doesn't mean I don't want to be around people. It doesn't mean I don't have social skills.  I do - I like people, I like to talk to people. I like to do public speaking. I have social skills.  The difference between me and an extrovert is that all of that takes energy for me to do all of that, and an extrovert gains energy from all of that.  In order to continually do "people" time, I need to invest time in alone time.  I gain energy from being away from people.

Ok, with that background in  mind,  why do you think someone would have those gathered turn to their neighbor and give them a "high-five?"  I don't know - I"m not a much sought after public speaker😉 - but I imagine he does it to raise the energy level in the room. It makes me wonder if he is an extrovert 

For me, requests from speakers such as this one only cause anxiety and loss of energy.  The same thing that be said when a leader wants us to sing with hand motions, or go find a "partner" (read stranger) and have a deep discussion about faith.  I am calling them, as of today, "extro-activities."  It seems counterproductive to the speaker's intention.  And I don't like them.  I dread them.

Am I the only person who feels that way?

PS - Ironically  enough, while I was writing this, sitting at a quiet table, another sponsor, who obviously needed anther person, came by and sat with me for 1/2 an hour or more.  He needed the energy he gets from talking to others.