It's always funny to me when I tell people that my Myers-Briggs type is ISTJ because the next thing they say is always, "Wait, you're an introvert?" Yes, I prefer to work alone. That does not, however, mean that I hate people or spend all my time waiting to be alone. It means that when I am in a working environment, I do my best work alone because other people distract me. I am more efficient when I am self-sufficient.
I will repeat: introverted does not mean that I hate people. I am actually a people person. The only issue is that I prefer to be in small groups of people. I'm not much of a big partier because I inevitably sink off to a corner and get on my phone because I get kind of uncomfortable around big groups of people that I don't know. I always have my phone charger with me because I essentially use it as a crutch whenever I feel uncomfortable. It's easy for me to just avoid interaction.
Being around big groups is just exhausting. So in those cases, I do find myself wanting to be alone, but I also don't want to hurt people's feelings. It's a struggle to make people know that I do enjoy being around them, but I also enjoy being by myself sometimes, too. It helps me recharge.
However, when I do find myself in large groups, I tend to portray boatloads of excitement because, in those situations, I'm normally surrounded by extroverts. I adopt a fake-it-'til-you-make-it attitude which I do not normally have, hence why people are so shocked to discover that I am actually an introvert.
My attitude towards groups also depends on the day, as well as how much I have been around people recently. Sometimes, I only need about 5 minutes by myself to recollect myself to interact with large groups. However, sometimes it takes me an hour to even think about leaving my room.
When I was little, all I did was talk to people. I would literally go up to someone I had never met and be able to hold a conversation. Now, I channel that younger me when I find myself in situations such as career fairs and meet-and-greets. As I grew up, I became less extroverted. I find comfort in being able to do nothing and not have to keep up a conversation.
I used to hate eating alone, but I generally prefer to eat one meal alone per day, usually lunch. I eat dinner with people because it helps me keep from becoming a hermit.
In all honestly, a cookie-cutter introvert does not exist. There are definitely introverts who dread being around people. There are others, like me, who can be around people and be fine but do enjoy alone time as well. There are also introverts everywhere in between.
