Raise your hand if you get really quiet when placed in overly social situations. Do you mentally prepare yourself before you go out for the night with a 10-minute pep talk in the mirror? Do you secretly jump for joy when your plans get cancelled because you didn’t want to go?

Did you answer ‘yes’ to any of those questions? Then congratulations, welcome to the introverted extroverts club and no, we don’t have t-shirts or stickers and we don’t have weekly meetings. Truth be told, you have to catch us on the right day. But if you are not lucky enough to be apart of this sacred club, then settle in and prepare to be amazed by the wonders of the introverted extrovert.

First things first, we are NOT antisocial or rude. Being thrown into social situations just scares the crap out of us sometimes. But one thing you should not make the mistake of doing is taking our lack of vocalization as a weakness. Nine times out of ten, we have run through a handful of scenarios in our heads before we even open our mouths. Did you miss where I said being social is terrifying to us?

Don’t worry though, closed mouths lead to active imaginations and I for one can say that my selective speech has lead to some pretty dope ideas for my writing. A lot can come out of the silence if you just back and listen for once.

Besides, being an introvert doesn’t mean that we don’t have friends. We do at some point come out of our shell to make the occasional friend or two, hence the extrovert half of the phrase introverted extrovert. Imagine being the introvert’s best friend; it is an unspoken honor if you really think about it. This person took the time to choose to speak to you and remain loyal to you.

You survived the final elimination round! You get the last rose! All that good stuff.

Who else would you trust with your deepest, darkest secrets? The person who is friends with everybody and their mom or the girl who spends most weekends binge-watching old tv shows on Netflix? I think I just answered your question for you.

Guess who gives the best advice humanly possible?

That’s right! The introvert. All we do is watch silently and take mental notes about the people and things that we have to deal with on a daily basis. That’s the best course of action when it comes to helping people figure their own lives out but we make sure to live by one solitary rule in situations like these. We always follow our advice up with ‘But I don’t know though, maybe that’s just me…’ that way we don’t get blamed if your life just so happens to implode on itself. But that rarely happens, us introverts know what we’re talking about.

Introversion is not about being overly insecure or antisocial. I am fully aware that I do have the potential to one of the most social people in the room but in my opinion, it takes a different outlook on life to truly realize how much of a gem that introverts are. I am perfectly fine with my relatively small friend circle and my seemingly one-sided conversational skills because I know what I’m actually capable of and it is something great. Even the caterpillar took its time to become the beautiful butterfly.

If you thought that you could come into my life and change that, you are more than likely sadly mistaken. I am okay with who I am and no one can possibly throw off the positive energy that I sustain. You can very well try but you will just end up making yourself tired, which I’m not going to lie, I would love to see. One thing that an introvert needs is for someone to accept them for they are, not for someone to try and mold them into what they feel like we should like. In the long run, befriending an introvert will be the best decision you ever make.

Now that you’ve taken a peek into the world of the introverted extrovert, try looking at the world through their lenses for once.