NETWORKING EVENTS: To go or not to go? That is the question.

 Networking events can be a drag. 

Lots of people milling around trying to talk to someone that they might or might not have something in common with. The lists of banal and superficial questions that seem to be on a loop throughout the evening. The people who seem to be interested in what you have to offer but not really. (Guilty as charged.)

Of course there are good things as well. You get to meet people that you might not have met anyway. You might get to have a conversation without the aforementioned banal questions. You get to have a conversation that has nothing to do with "what do you do" and more about something that you both have in common and that you can both speak passionately about. 

By all means, go to these events but don't go all the time because you think it is the thing to do. As an introvert, you are going to tire yourself out. You will grow wary of these things and not want to run back to them any time soon.

Know your social limits and go to these events with an open mind and thought process that, yes you are going to meet someone interesting an yes, you are going to go to connect, not to sell something.

Yes, I have made these mistakes and when I look back on this I give myself a facepalm. 

Don't get into that situation where you are doing the same thing as me. Facepalms are never a good look.