I read this all the way through and I feel you m8. I had a very similar experience being a massive introvert who struggles to push myself out of a 'social anxiety' mind state (apart from when I drink which I can't often due to a chronic condition) a lot of the time.
When I say ‘mixed feelings’, there were times on ‘Day 2’ that I was standing around not knowing who to approach. Everyone seemed so engrossed and I felt like I would be breaking into private parties so to speak.
I struggled networking big time and although I had numerous meaningful conversations throughout, they were sparse and I spent a lot of time kind of milling around on my own.
It is an interesting thing you raise in this post; that steemfest is a challenge for an introvert. I feel a worthy challenge that is good to do, but still a challenge. I'm currently in the process of writing my roadtosteemfest post and this has made me think a little about mentioning these honest feelings of the challenges that go along with the great things about steemfest :-)
RE: The Road to SteemFest | My Trip Down Memory Lane