If you cancel plans to stay home alone more than you admit, psychology says this might be why - Silicon Canals

"If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. And if you're doing it more often than you'd like to admit, there might be deeper psychological reasons at play. The truth is, constantly canceling plans to stay home alone isn't just about being tired or introverted. Sometimes, it's our mind's way of protecting us from something we don't even realize we're avoiding."

"Living in a world that constantly demands our attention and interaction can be exhausting. Between work meetings, family obligations, and maintaining friendships, we're more socially connected than ever before, yet somehow more drained by it all. Bella DePaulo Ph.D. points out that "People who feel they are not getting as much time to themselves as they would like feel more stressed, more depressed, and generally less satisfied with their lives." When we're constantly "on" for others, canceling plans becomes a form of self-preservation."

"I learned this the hard way in my twenties when I'd stack my calendar with back-to-back social commitments, thinking that being busy meant being valuable. The irony wasn't lost on me later when I found myself writing about this exact trap. What looked like popularity was actually a shield against vulnerability. If I was always rushing to the next thing, I never had to sit with uncomfortable feelings or have deeper conversations."

Repeatedly canceling social plans can signal social burnout and anxiety-driven avoidance rather than simple tiredness or introversion. Constant demands from work, family, and friendships create persistent social exhaustion that increases stress, depression, and life dissatisfaction when alone time is lacking. Needing downtime can lead to canceling as self-preservation. Some people fill schedules with back-to-back commitments to appear valuable and to avoid vulnerability, thereby evading uncomfortable feelings and deeper conversations. Anxiety can impersonate introversion, producing anticipatory worry before events that prompts withdrawal and last-minute excuses to stay home.

Read at Silicon Canals