-I don’t feel well, I need some alone time.
-What alone time? Can I help you?
-I just need some quiet time and to rest in silence.
-What can I actually do for you?
-Nothing, I am really fine. I just need to be alone for a while and that’s it.
-I don’t get you. Am I bothering you while you aren’t feeling well?

Does it sound familiar? I guess that most of you experienced many similar conversations in the past, where people didn’t even try to understand you and even got offended that you must go and have to leave them. In a particular mood, you can be a really outgoing person and enjoy a party or a night out. But then your “introvert battery” for social interactions just dies and you start to feel the urge to run away and recharge it. These situations are really draining and confusing and many introverts wish that people around them would understand them better on this little issue. It would help to avoid any unnecessary conflicts. So, why do introverts, INTJ personality type included, need alone time?

Introverts need alone time to reflect on life and the world around them. Sometimes it is a great satisfaction to get lost inside your own head and overthink pretty much about everything. It is needed for growing perception and for catching inspiring ideas going through INTJs heads. It is really essential to absorb and process both: the outside world and your own inside world. Introverts love their alone time and find it actually really entertaining. It is essential that others shall not misinterpret it as being antisocial even if we might look different.
Introverts usually choose to have alone time on weekends and will refuse invitations to go out. Of course, once in a while, they like going out somewhere and getting stuck into social interactions, but it is important for others not to get offended by often occurring refusals. It is nothing personal, and going out isn’t the introvert thing.

Introverts love doing things on their own. On the contrary, for extroverts, staying in the evening at home to read a classical book or watch an old movie sounds like a boredom kingdom. But introverts like doing these things alone in silence. They find that kind of evening quite enjoyable and relaxing. Introverts, especially INTJs, like doing work tasks by themselves. To make long things short, INTJs’ work nature falls into one simple phrase: “Nobody will make it better than me”.

It is an introvert’s nature to gather some energy and revitalize it by alone time. Small talks and other social interactions drain introverts’ energy. It results in shutting themselves away and engaging in activities, such as long solitary walks or just sitting in the serenity of silence, and simply doing nothing for hours. Alone time in a safe place seems like a cocoon, where introverts usually like to hide and slough like a shiny butterfly for a new beginning.

INTJ Alone time not only saves energy but also helps to develop an ability to silently meditate while being in crowds. This seems a little weird because meditation is mostly understood as an activity of sitting detached in a quiet and peaceful place while mumbling various meditation sounds. Introverts, especially INTJs, in later life period, acquire an ability to be lonely in a crowd without feeling drained for a longer time. It works like a meditation when you are detached from people around you and mostly stick to your own thoughts that work like a shelter. This meditation practice also helps to stay focused for a longer time and to be more productive even in noisy places.
If INTJs don’t get enough alone time, they become tense, irritated, and too cautious in public. It is harmful to productivity and other people around them because this feeling makes proper communication pretty much impossible. When irritated, INTJs might become mute or even start to sarcastically offend and criticize people just to make them leave. This suppressed feeling stays long enough till INTJs find a quiet spot to recharge for a while.