A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with my boyfriend, Andy, about glasses. We both wear glasses and are both strong in our conviction that our specs are a direct extension of our personalities. His are uniquely shaped, and look very sophisticated; these attributes fit his personality to a "T." My glasses are a vintage style in a dark purple with a thick, partially plastic frame. I told Andy that they are a bold statement on my face, but I didn’t think that they as perfectly matched my personality as his do. As a self-proclaimed introvert, the thing I felt that I was least likely to be was bold.

Even so, the first thing out of his mouth upon hearing my thoughts was, “But you are bold.”

Whenever I have heard this word, the first thing it made me visualize was someone who was outwardly social. I always thought that anyone who had the ability to make excellent speeches, act on stage, meet ten new friends at a single party, and blow potential employers away during an interview was bold. In other words, I thought that boldness equaled extroversion. But this conversation had got me thinking that maybe there was something else to this word that I wasn’t realizing.

So I turned to my handy Merriam-Webster dictionary app. According to this, one of the definitions of the word “bold” is, “fearless before danger” and “showing or requiring a fearless, daring spirit.” This was followed by a string of synonyms, some of which are as follows: assured, confident, emboldened, enterprising, adventurous, and hardy.

So in looking at these words and definitions, it doesn’t really make sense to say that only one personality type fits the mold. That would be like saying that everyone in America loves hamburgers because there are those of us who don’t. These statements are all just overgeneralizations and stereotypes, and the world doesn’t work that way.

Instead, you have to look at boldness as something that everyone has the capability to be. Everyone can be confident, enterprising, and adventurous; you don’t have to be a talker in order to have these attributes. It is one thing to be able to go up to a stranger and strike up a conversation, but it is another to persevere through hard times or to take on a new, challenging endeavor. Both require boldness, it just takes a different form.

The latter is the part I embody. I enjoy discovering new, remote places through traveling. I empower my mind by taking on a difficult college major. I strive to treat everyone with respect. I push through a stereotype by believing in both the power of God and the power of science. So Andy was right; these things make me bold, even in my own quiet way.

But I am not the only introvert out there, and saying that every introvert is like me would be an overgeneralization. So for all those introverts out there who wish they were bold, let me say this: you are. Use your own individual strengths, talents, and abilities to further yourself and the world around you as only you can. If you are fearlessly engaging in something that is freeing your spirit and making you stronger, you are being bold. So go out there and be powerful, be unshakable, be introverted, and be bold.