Please Stop Asking Me to “Network” 🙅♀️
Signed, Every Introvert Ever
Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room — that dreaded word that makes us want to crawl under a rock: Networking. 😱
Just hearing it probably conjures up images of crowded rooms, forced small talk, and people tossing business cards around like confetti. Am I right? It’s enough to make any introvert want to hibernate indefinitely.
Here’s the thing: somewhere along the line, “networking” became the holy grail of professional success. Want to advance your career? Network! Looking to expand your social circle? Network! Hoping to land your dream job? You guessed it — network!
But fellow introverts, I’m here with a radical idea: we don’t have to play by these rules. We can forge our own paths — ones that actually feel authentic to who we are.
Why Traditional Networking Makes Us Want to Run for the Hills
1. Forced Interaction = Pure Torture: It’s not that we’re antisocial hermits (okay, maybe sometimes). We just prefer our interactions to mean something. Being tossed into a sea of strangers with the expectation of making “valuable connections” feels about as natural as a cat in a bathtub.
