No, they are exhausting because there is so much to process mentally and some environments make it difficult to do so. Large gatherings where there is so much to process and think through that it is like working out, but not generally stressful.

Going to a large party where I don’t know anyone is exhausting because I am actively processing my interactions with everyone, thinking through whether certain things are appropriate for this situation before I say them. Again, this isn’t stressful for me, just tiring. The extroverts I know just do things and then change up based on people’s reactions without really thinking about it actively. That is how I act around people I already know, who are not exhausting to hang around for extended periods of time.

I’m not knocking extroverts either, just saying that they are comfortable just acting without overthinking things first which works most of the time. Heck, when I have intentionally not thought about the situation it is not exhausting to talk to someone I just met and gone off their reactions. That took a lot of practice though, and has to be with people I doubt that I will ever see again for it to work. Again, not because it causes stress, but because that is how I process social interactions in a way that takes active effort which is tiring.