At five years old, I was the skinny girl with cross bangs that weren't cut evenly, who loved Barbies, listened to the Backstreet Boys on cassette, and didn't say a whole lot. One of the first days I walked into my second grade class, a little girl with pigtails and glasses ran up to me but was so loud, she scared me to death. Little did I know I would still be friends with her 10 years later. However, that's another story for a different day.
As I grew up, not only did my best friends tell me I was shy, but so did everyone around me from my teachers to my parents to my next-door neighbors. It's as if they thought I had never heard such a thing before and it couldn't have been worse.
Every time someone told me I was shy, my confidence dwindled away and I would continue to be reminded about my biggest weakness. I usually got both sides of the spectrum from someone thinking being shy isn't that big a deal or that it was cute, to the people that just thought I hated them because I didn't say much. To all the quiet people out there, I guarantee you know what I'm talking about. Trust me, I feel you.
For the longest time, I thought that being shy was the worst thing about me. Now, I view it as one of my strengths. It's obvious that quiet people talk a lot less, so that only means they are observing more. We notice more about different situations and people than the average person would because we are constantly paying such close attention to detail.
Most importantly, we know how to listen really well. The people that you usually like the most tend to be the ones that will actually listen to everything you have to say, not the people who just talk about themselves 24/7.
Sure, it's nice to talk to someone who is really outgoing because they aren't as awkward. But newsflash, we can all get awkward at times; it's just part of life. Shy people aren't as bad as you think.
Sometimes we quiet people can break our shells and be super outgoing. Every time I used to meet someone new, I would be quiet around them. Once they talked to some of my closest friends, though, they would all say once you get me to talk, I'll never shut up.
If someone who's really quiet opens up to you to the point where they won't stop talking, consider it an honor. They must really like you if they have allowed themselves to become comfortable around you. They don't let a whole lot of people in, so just know they think you're special for some reason.
Eventually, your quiet friends can break their shells, or at least, crack it open. Chances are anyone who is shy has tried to overcome it for a variety of different reasons.
When I graduated high school, I decided that I was done caring so much about facing judgment from people and decided that I would push myself to be more outgoing. Since then, I have chosen a career path where I constantly have to walk up to strangers and interview them, gotten a job where I am forced to create conversation with so many people each and every day, taken a public speaking class I told myself I would never take, and have even become pretty close friends with people I currently go to school with in college and better friends with people I had never even talked to back in high school.
Although I'm not nearly as shy as I used to be, I'm glad I once struggled with it. It has led me to push myself out of my comfort zone and really challenge myself more. I've had some pretty amazing opportunities and met even better people along the way. Despite the fact I can still be reserved sometimes, I am a completely different person than I was before I got to college.
So what if I'm still a little quiet or if anyone else is too. We shy people can be full of surprises, so don't sell us short.
It's always the quiet ones.
