Peek into an introvert's diary

       I have always had trouble with social interaction, mostly because I am an introvert and partly because I can be an idiot. Along my life's journey, I have learned a lot of lessons in my quest for friends. 

        At the age of seven, I tried befriending the colony queen. She was a riot and I wanted a part in her play. Her group accepted me gladly and we played happily since then, but not really. Half an hour into playtime, I was blamed for " stealing her friends" while all I did was get her friends into my team by chance in a fair way. Lesson 1: don't be too honest with queens.

       At the age of ten, my best friends and I tried impressing a couple of kids in the block so they would be our friends. Our plan had been to show them an extremely realistic snake toy to show them how cool we were. But it didn't go as planned. The kids got scared of he toy and called it creepy. They didn't talk to us for two years after that (their loss though). So lesson 2: not everyone has the same idea of what "cool" is.

        Ninth grade "never have I ever" game time. My biggest flex back then was my clear skin. So I went ahead and told the class that I had never used a "skin-clearing" cream in my life. I should've known that teenagers have raging egos and get jealous easily. They did not take it well. Until I left school, I had been rumoured to be immature. So my lesson 3: don't show off with teenagers.

       When junior college started, I was extremely insecure and introverted. I just could not talk to human beings. Despite my incapability to communicate, I was in a situation where I had to talk to a girl for office work. Along the flow oof our introductions, I complimented the softness of her hand impulsively. I remember regretting it and thinking to myself that this girl would run away and never talk to me again and that I should now have said that. Quite unlike the scenarios in my mind, she took my compliment quite well and was happy. Her and I remained friends till college ended. We lost touch but she taught me a very important lesson. Lesson 4: not everyone will judge me.

      When University started, I was unafraid to be myself. I used to go around saying what was on my mind and talking to whoever I wanted. I was not extroverted per se, but I was not insecure. I said what j wanted to didn't care what others thought. Some people liked it, some didn't. Those who liked me stayed and I knew they were meant for me. The ones who didn't like me left, and that is okay. My lesson 5: I don't need to make everyone like me.

      Though these lessons are old, I find their use in some part of my life or the other. They may be trivial, but still useful.