There are some events you can’t bail on at the last minute: Weddings, funerals, and your best friend’s birthday party. Of course, while there are a handful of social events with no back door exit, I’d say that for most things, you can wriggle free at the first sign of your social battery running low. 

Take for instance a baby shower. To break the chains of social engagement, simply drop off your tower of diapers, hand the mom-to-be an adorable baby card, and snag a deviled egg on your way to the parking lot. There’s really no need to stick around, play baby food games, and guess the circumference of the mom’s pregnant belly. Run away! No introvert wants any part of forced gameplay with strangers. We don’t want to know the names of our friends’ extended relatives and we don’t want to see 400 pictures of everyone’s baby 10-minutes after being born. 

When you’re an introvert, you master the art of escape. Like smoke, we can disappear without a trace, wafting away at the first breeze of trouble. So if you’re cancelling plans this weekend, I don’t blame you—I’ll be doing the same to go dig up some memes for y’all.