To the introverted person living in an extrovert-centric world,

I know it can be difficult when sometimes we are judged by our mouth instead of our merit. I know it can be tough to see people attract friends like a magnet while we wait for so long before we connect with somebody. I know it's a struggle when those who are louder and more aggressive seem to always get what they want, while our silence is our acceptance that we won't.

While everyone is designed to have a unique personality that's necessary in this world, it seems unfair that those who sometimes keep quiet have an inherent disadvantage. When I am put in a pool of 40,000 new faces, why am I the one who gets so lost, she drowns? Why should I have to dread partner assignments because I would always end up getting the worst partner in the class? Why did I spend time crafting a speech to run for a leadership position, when I knew darn well that I would lose to my more extroverted counterparts?

When I asked how to make friends at school, avoid lousy lab partners, or actually win the leadership positions, I got the same answer for all three: be more extroverted.

We all wish it would work like that. We turn our "extroverted" switch on and, alas, we get every position, every partner, and every friend we could ever desire. But, unfortunately, it's a process to become more open and outgoing and sometimes, becoming an actual "extrovert" is an ideal we feel we can't attain.

However, to all of the introverts who feel like they will never be able to become extroverts, there are a few things you should know.

With patience and time, you won't be "stuck" as an introvert if you don't want to be.

It just may take baby steps for us to open up more. I am nineteen-years-old, and I just recently started saying "Hi" first to people because upon coming to college, I had no other choice. However, with every "Hi" that elicited a warm response from somebody, I felt like I had taken a huge step in the right direction and congratulated myself from breaking out of my comfort zone.

Your personality is necessary in this world, even if the world doesn't "favor" it.

Think about living in a place where everybody was loudly and aggressively talking over each other and nobody listened to what one another had to say. The world would be a pretty unproductive place. The listeners who take in the "noise" from everybody else are often great thinkers. And when the people who sat there silently finally speak up, everybody knows they have something meaningful to say since they choose their words carefully.

You often make the longest-lasting friendships.

I will admit that it sucks to see people have tons of friends so quickly. How does anyone stay at college one night and automatically have an amazing friend group? However, oftentimes, those people have a brand new friend group the next week and the week after that (props to anyone who established their college friend group early on). My friendships develop very slowly, but I've had certain friends for over ten years!

So to the quiet people out there, I am here to tell you that you should not try to compromise who you are to "become an extrovert." People like you and me are just as important as those who speak up more. In fact, eventually, people do recognize that sometimes the quietest people have the best ideas, funniest senses of humor or kindest hearts. And in those times, we may end up winning a friend or a position in an activity.

It is possible to live as an introvert in an extrovert-centric world.