Have you ever found yourself having times where you feel like snapping at everyone and can’t tolerate your normal, everyday life? These days may come out of nowhere, suddenly everything and everyone is getting on your nerves. If the answer is yes, then you may be experiencing social burnout.

Social burnout is a very real experience that happens to many people without them even realizing. Social burnouts can happen to introverts and extroverts alike.

This is because whether we realize it or not, whenever we spend time with anyone, even the people we love, we are never truly ourselves. We never fully let our guards down and be our whole selves until we are utterly alone. This is the time where we can recharge and reset because our minds have freedom to let down that shield protecting who we are.

Personally, I used to become socially burned out far too often. These times made it extremely difficult for me to be productive, enjoy my days, and socialize with the people I cared about. Although this still happens to me every so often, I can now manage it much better by recognizing some of the warning signs that come along with it.

Here are four warning signs that you are experiencing social burnout:

1. You don’t feel like socializing at all anymore

Events that should be fun like family gatherings or seeing your friends start to feel like a chore. The thought of going out to socialize with anyone at all leaves you feeling so drained that you don’t want to go out at all.

You may begin to isolate yourself and withdraw from friends and family.

2. You become irritable and easily agitated

Little things that usually wouldn’t annoy you may begin to set you off. You can’t handle small issues and you lash out at people you care about out of nowhere.

This leaves you feeling extremely bad about yourself and feeling guilty for the inability to handle your anger.

3. You become easily overwhelmed

You’re everyday tasks now may seem extremely difficult or even impossible. You are too exhausted that you avoid everything you need to do in order to try and give your mind a moment to rest. But, your mind doesn’t need rest from these tasks, it needs a break from socializing with people who drain you.

4. You have increased anxiety

Maybe you have anxiety over the fact that you spend too much time away from home or over the fact that you just don’t feel like yourself anymore. You may feel like you’re beginning to treat people differently and fear losing your friends because you are withdrawing yourself from them.

A common misconception of social burnout is that the people you spend your most of your time with don’t align with you leaving you feeling drained. Although this may be true in a lot of cases, it is also likely that you just need some alone time.

This is because whether we realize it or not, whenever we spend time with anyone, even the people we love, we are never truly ourselves. We never fully let our guards down and be our whole selves until we are utterly alone. This is the time where we can recharge and reset because our minds have freedom to let down that shield protecting who we are.

Because of this, we could all benefit from taking a day or two to ourselves. This means we are away from work, friends, and anything else that leads to socialization and our minds becoming overwhelmed. With this, we will feel replenished, recharged, and more like ourselves again.