How can I be less frustrated at myself for feeling a need for more downtime from socialising than my friend?

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I’ve looked at how extroverts manage this problem, and what I find is that they just turn you down and if you get mad at them, they get mad right back.

You control how you spend your time, no one else. Don’t let other people fluster you. You’re asking how you can be less frustrated at yourself, when really it’s you letting other people get to you.

The problem wouldn’t exist if he wasn’t pressuring you. Worse, once he realizes he can change your behavior by pressuring you, he’s just going to do it more.

Practically speaking, you can handle him by dealing from the frame that you care about his feelings, and then shade closer to the frame that you don’t care about his feelings as he demonstrates that he doesn’t care about your feelings.

So you can start with a short explanation about introversion and how social outings drain you, and if he doesn’t like or believe you, just shut him down and say sorry you can’t hang out and I gotta go. He’s demonstrated that he’s not really interested in your feelings, just his. So you’re not obligated to tip toe around his.