I saw evidence of this during the summer. A painful problem with a close friend caused me to feel abandoned by my friends in general, and that combined with the fact that most of my friends now stay at college over the summer made me feel consistently lonely for the second half of my summer. I'm not a social person - I prefer to stay at home by myself instead of going out with a group of friends. Solitude doesn't bother me, and it's easy for a social situation to drain me of energy (can you tell I'm an introvert?) But this summer held too much alone time and not enough relationships, which was a first for me. I was excited about returning to school if only to be around a lot of people all the time.
Since the moment I got here at school, I've been a lot more social. Keep in mind that "a lot more" is relative, but I found myself willing to stay out of my room more, stop to have conversations with people more, initiate social activities more. And the strangest part of it was that I was enjoying all of it. Big groups still wore me out quickly, and I still craved time to myself, but I almost became afraid of being alone for too long because of my lonely summer. I'm still an introvert - nothing changed about that. At the end of the day, I prefer to be alone. But on the other hand, my social times are more...social. Being around people, especially my friends, has cured me of those feelings of abandonment and loneliness, and I've regained my energy and joy through strengthening the relationships I have here. I've been replenished.
But there's another side to this whole thing. I've never had a problem with it because of my introverted nature, but many people do.
Solitude.
Solitude is crucial. Solitude is devoid of distractions, forcing you to shift your attention inward and upward. Solitude doesn't just include an absence of people, but also an absence of social media, the internet, phones and ipods. It refocuses you. I don't know if anyone will know what I'm talking about when I say this, but did you ever have one of those old computer monitors that had a button on it to "refocus" the screen? When you pushed it, the screen would flicker and then shake from side to side like it was regaining its balance. Theoretically it would refocus the screen and make it clearer. Anyone? No? But yeah, that's how I think solitude can readjust you.
Solitude is necessary for good community. It sounds contradictory, but sometimes you're better with people when you've been away from people. Again, I can see this hold true for me. I was away from people for a while during the summer. Not completely isolated - I had my family, and a couple of friends that I saw every so often - but relatively isolated, nothing like being here at Ouachita where there is someone you know around every corner. Almost literally. The time that was mostly away from people helped me appreciate them more here. I care about people more now, and I'm more patient with them when they're telling me about their day. I genuinely want to know, because I found out what it was like to be starved of that interaction.
Community is essential for people, as well as for Christians (there is a ton of stuff in the Bible about fellowship and the Church, and how it's necessary to be an effective body of Christ.) But that doesn't mean to surround yourself every minute with people. If you do, you get tired of them, more impatient, angrier. That happens to introverts and extroverts alike. If you feel yourself wearing thin, or getting easily annoyed when someone talks to you, spend some time away from them. Disconnect from the world, and you just might find yourself reconnecting with God.