A classic introvert suddenly finds self and an exhausting extrovert work place

Hi all. I’ve recently started a new job after moving from Belgium to North America, and I’m finding the difference in workplace culture much harder than I expected.

In Belgium, people were generally pretty chill and reserved, which suited me perfectly. I’m a classic introvert and very comfortable with that. There was work socialising, of course, but it tended to be fairly gentle and not go on forever.

My new workplace is completely different. The culture is very expressive and extroverted, and there’s a LOT of socialising that’s expected, particularly at my level. It’s loud, high-energy and can go on for hours. After a full day of work followed by an evening event, I can reach a point where my social battery is just completely gone. I go from being communicative, engaged and perfectly functional to very quiet and withdrawn. It’s not shyness or dislike of the people around me — I genuinely feel like I have nothing left to give.

I’m starting to worry that some of my senior colleagues don’t really understand this and may be interpreting it as disengagement, or even questioning whether I’m suited to the role because it’s quite outward-facing and people-focused.

That’s difficult because I know my work extremely well. I’ve been successful in my field for a long time, I’m well respected professionally, and I’ve generally been considered effective and likeable. So it’s quite unsettling to suddenly find myself wondering whether I’m “wrong” for a job I know I can do, simply because the surrounding culture places so much value on sustained extroversion.

I also feel like I should explain this to my colleagues before they form the wrong impression of me. But I’m not even sure how to explain “my social battery genuinely runs out” to people who seem capable of socialising indefinitely without making myself sound antisocial, shy, or unable to handle the demands of the job.

Has anyone else experienced this after moving into a much more extroverted workplace or culture? Did you adapt, set boundaries, explain it to colleagues, or just learn how to manage your energy differently? I’d really appreciate hearing how other introverts have handled it.