It is exhausting, but it can be fun. My motivation was to network during conferences. I ended up meeting interesting people, having good conversations, and enjoying myself more.
Yes, thats a win but use it casually when needed because it depletes you. You can’t change your nature, but you can oscilate it here and there. A drink helps too
If you're genuinely an introvert, the alternative is you "hide at home" and have fun doing so. And socialize infrequently with few very close friends (basically, quality over quantity).
I'm pretty good at socializing when I need to. I'll still most likely be wishing throughout that I was out eating dinner or having a beer at a brewery by myself with a good book or HN on my eInk tablet. Being by myself is extremely restorative and makes me happy.
I think this is what having an introverted personality is like.
The difference is between gaining a skill vs loving what you do. Introverted person practice socializing is more of a skill development than actually loving every moment of it. True introverts are happy being alone (they are not lonely as in a negative sense).
I think it is easier for introvertes to gain extrovertion skill (clear benefits) than extroverts to gain introversion skills (benefits of being alone is not that obvious)
I used to be a lot more introverted until I realized the value of extroverted behavior is not so superficial.
For some reason, and especially on HN, extroversion is seen as a simple meaningless choice at best or sociopathic and manipulative at worst. It's really about finding new ideas, updating your mental models, and making rational decisions. So many things in life depend on your surroundings. if you're not interacting with the humans in it, you are just avoiding change. If you only socialize on the internet and with groups of like-minded people you find in real life, you are being manipulated.