Dear World,

I am an introvert. To clarify, this doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me when I read a book instead of seeing a movie with 15 other people. This doesn’t mean I won’t succeed in life. And my personal favorite, this doesn’t mean I won’t stand up for myself.

As an introvert, it means that I can talk to people, I just would rather not. Talking in front of people, for me, is exhausting. I dreaded my high school speech class, not just because it was a class hated by most, but it was a class that forced me into my most uncomfortable state every single day.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Gates, Rosa Parks—all introverts. So to those of you that tell introverts like me that I won’t succeed in life, at least I’m in good company.

I get it, we live in a world dominated by charismatic extroverts, but there is a reason that stories on the news aren’t about us, the introverts. That’s because we’re introverts. We’re at home napping.

Extroverts are some of my favorite people and, if I’m being totally honest, I’m a little bit jealous of them. Carrying on a conversation is almost totally effortless, and they probably don’t get exhausted from talking too much. In addition, they ‘fill in’ for us introverts when we don’t quite know what to say.

So I’m not calling a war on extroverts, I’m not saying that all introverts will be successful, but I’m simply saying this: one trait does not define a person. Telling me I won’t be successful as an introvert is like telling me I won’t be successful because I have brown hair; that’s not how it works.

Love,

An Introvert