Sometimes I hide out in bathrooms, and I'm no longer ashamed to admit it, Axios national energy correspondent Amy Harder writes.

• Why it matters: If you're among the near-majority of Americans who identify as introverts, you probably already know why. If you're not, understanding our instincts might change how you see the people around you.

Author Susan Cain lays it out in her book "Quiet": We live in a culture — and exist in workplaces — shaped around the extrovert ideal. Leadership often defaults to those who are assertive, sociable and comfortable in crowds.

• 🔋 Introverts often slip away during highly stimulating moments to recharge.
• Cain's mention of the bathroom trick helped normalize it for me.

👤 Zoom in: People are often surprised to learn I'm an introvert. As a journalist, my job requires interviewing, relationship-building and public speaking.

• But introversion isn't shyness. It's about energy, not ability.
• Even when I enjoy big gatherings — and I often do — they drain me. And public speaking, despite being something I'm good at, can also drain me.

📖 Yet it wasn't until COVID and recently reading "Quiet," published in 2012, that I fully embraced the fact that I'm an introvert. I stopped fighting/avoiding that reality and started working with it.

• Since then, I've built a small toolkit for honoring my innate self while rising to the occasion as an introvert in an extrovert's world.

1. 🚽 Bathroom breaks are strategic, not just when nature calls. Before and after public speaking and while at gatherings, I take breaks strategically.
2. ⚡ I conserve energy before I perform. I avoid heavy networking before taking the stage, to save my energy for the main event.
3. 🧽 I volunteer to do the dishes at dinner parties. It's a tiny retreat that also makes me a better guest.
4. 👯‍♂️ I choose depth over volume. I'll often opt for smaller, 1:1 catchups over large group hangs, both socially and professionally. I trade the efficiency of a big meetup for the meaning and connection of a close conversation.
5. 🏃‍♀️ I protect my "restorative niches." These are what Cain calls a physical, temporal or other type of place you go to recharge. For me, it's running and sleeping.

Zoom out: Cain writes that suppressing your true self can make the world feel heavier. I've felt that.

• I used to guilt-trip myself for not "working the room" at conferences. Now I set a different goal: a few real conversations instead of a dozen forgettable ones.
• I used to feel like I was failing my very extroverted husband by not matching his social energy. Now we collaborate — who we see, when, how and sometimes separately.

⭐ The bottom line: I'm learning to show up authentically in an extrovert's world — with confidence, clearer boundaries and, when needed, a well-timed bathroom break.

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Natalie's in-laws, Helen & Alex Rockelli, sent photos of The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, Calif., that were so stunning they needed to be shared outside the family group chat.

• 🪄 The fields look straight out of Oz, but better.