The Energizer Bunny

My senses were on full alert as I opened my eyes from a brief nap, eight hours into the road trip. It was two in the morning and it was still my friend's shift to drive. Traffic was light as I looked around to see what woke me up. Traveling south, we had just crested the Grapevine and were on the outskirts of Los Angeles—a city where the freeways are never still. But it wasn’t the traffic that woke me, there were no loud noises nearby, and my friend hadn’t spoken. Yet I could ‘feel’ it…energy coursing through my veins. Not just amped energy but excitement energy…anticipation energy. Energy that was strong enough to wake me from a sound sleep. It’s the same energetic rush I get from many cities. The streets of New York, San Francisco, and even Portland give me their personalized brand of an energetic rush. Each city feels different, but the rush is very much the same. It should be noted that I’m not very fond of L.A. as places to be, but the energy I was feeling was very enjoyable.

So I’m puzzled. Introverts get their energy from within, I know that. Too much stimulus (i.e. excitement) can deplete their reserves, I know that too. Yet here am I, an introvert to the max, getting high off of L. A.’s energy--a city that I don't even particularly enjoy. The phenomenon seems discordant…But the fact remains, in a city, my senses are flooded with energy. You can’t get much more external than that.

Now I realize that there must be a difference in the types of energies I am feeling. The external energy that a city gives off is palpable—it is probably what draws the masses to it. But does it reenergize the introvert? I’m not so sure. I still need my space, my cave, my alone time. Without it I begin to shut down and withdraw from doing anything. So the energy I get from a city shouldn’t be confused with the energy I get from within. They might feel the same initially, but they are very different animals.

Big cities, however, are the easiest places in the world to be alone. Where else can you be among a throng of people who don’t even acknowledge your existence? What better place to sit at a sidewalk café and people watch? Where else are the choices of things to do so vast? Where indeed?

Big cities are an attraction for me…it probably appeals to my adventurous side and has little to do with my introversion, but big cities play into who I am so exquisitely. Loving the energy rush yet staying within my cocoon. Alone, but not lonely. Getting the high a location has to offer, yet always going within to recharge and get ready for my next adventure.