What It’s Like To Be An Introvert (And Why You Should Let Us Do Our Thing)

A member shares their story.

After every semester, I would get my report back from school and there would always be one comment that would never go away.

“Your daughter, is a very quiet student and I would like her to speak up more,” my teachers would say.

I was very aware of my lack of contributions. It wasn’t because I didn’t care or didn’t try; it was simply because I preferred to keep to myself. I was an introvert and I was completely fine with being one, except being an introvert in this world has caused some struggles.

Firstly, you wouldn’t believe how much I dislike making new friends. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends, but the physical process of making friends kills my energy. No joke. Possibly my number one rule is to not approach strangers unless it is highly, highly, highly necessary.

One example is when starting a new school with nobody I know. I may be an introvert, but that doesn’t mean I like to be a loner for my whole schooling years. That would be quite a nightmare for anybody, in my opinion. So, if you ever see me approaching somebody new, please understand that it will rarely happen again.

Following that, once I have made friends, it often isn’t easy keeping those friends. You see, us introverts are extremely bad at doing this thing called social interaction. I avoid going out as much as possible and when I do, I bury myself in the corner of awkwardness.

Now, this becomes quite problematic as people get bored of you when you don’t keep interacting with them. Slowly, you fade out of their life and they fade out of yours. If you ever become friends with me, understand that I do like you as my friend, even if all my actions suggest otherwise. Just trust me. I do like you, but I have a limit as to the amount of social interaction I can endure. As the result of so many dimmed friendships, us introverts tend to only have a small circle of friends.

Another problem is school. Teachers tend to like a student who contributes to discussions. However, I don’t. The only time you’ll see me contributing is when the teacher specifically picks on me to answer. When you don’t contribute, others may conclude that you don’t care, never try or you’re simply stupid. So, my request is for people to understand that even when introverts are just blending into the background, we still do care, try and are not stupid (most of the time…).

Understanding an introvert is difficult if you are not one yourself, but don’t underestimate how crazy, cool and courageous an introvert can be.

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Photo: Comedy Central