I'm a quiet person.

Perhaps this might be strange for you to learn if your only interactions with my thoughts are my articles for Odyssey, but everyone who knows me in person (family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, etc.) would probably tell you all about it if you were to ask them.

I inherited my mother's looks and my father's personality; with this came a sense of independence that led me to be quite reserved even as a baby. I ended up bringing this personality trait along with me through childhood up until now in my life as a young adult making her way through a confusing world of taxes, parking issues, and apartment searching. However, one of the most common misconceptions about being a quiet person is that it automatically equates to being shy.

Alright, I did use to be pretty shy when I was growing up. I distinctly remember report cards and teacher conferences requesting that I speak up more in class. If I had to do a presentation in front of my class, you already know how red my face was from everyone looking at me.

I didn't really enjoy writing until middle school, but there's no doubt about the fact that I've always been an opinionated person and expressing myself nonverbally was a great way to explain my thoughts to the world.

Despite all this, I think it's safe to say that joining theater is one of the factors that began the process of allowing me to move away from being shy. You find yourself becoming way more open with other people when you willingly put yourself in front of an entire audience for the sake of drama. This doesn't necessarily mean class presentations and talking with strangers are a breeze now, but I've certainly come farther out of my shell than my younger self ever thought was possible.

In addition to this, I've always been quite soft-spoken. For example, my projection level has always lacked when it comes to theater. I believe this came from a lifetime of people close to me just being accustomed to listening for my quieter voice, but I believe most of the time I am asked to repeat myself which has since become a pet peeve of mine. I know it seems dumb to get annoyed about having to do something as a result of my own actions, but in some cases, it felt like those who asked me to repeat myself didn't really care about my response in the first place.

If it's not clear by now, I am definitely an introvert and thoroughly enjoy (and need) spending time by myself. I've had people in the past sit with me at lunch when I was by myself, but most of the time I was actually just fine reading a book or looking at my phone. I will always be very appreciative of these people for showing me kindness because I do get lonely from time to time. For the most part though, being quiet has taught me how to take care of myself, be more introspective, and feel comfortable working independently.

Even though I became more open in social situations, I have always retained simply being a woman of few spoken words. If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me if I was OK since I wasn't speaking or sarcastically told to stop dominating the conversation, I'd be rich enough to PAY someone to speak for me; they say silence IS golden, after all. Most of the time, I'm happy just to be there and listening to the conversation (I've become pretty good at this which helps when someone wants to vent to me), and I'll definitely make a point to speak up if I do want to say something.

If you know a quiet person, my parting wisdom to you is to please let them talk when they feel like it and listen when they do. When you get to know them more, you'll find they become a completely different person around those they feel comfortable with. Until then, become comfortable with silence until they choose to say a clever one-liner out of the blue.