I kept to myself growing up a lot of the time, keeping quiet in many social settings. I sat towards the back of the class and prayed that I would never get called on. When middle school hit and those infamous school dances arose, I kept my back to the wall and enjoyed from the sidelines. During football games, I sat away from the student section and enjoyed the game from afar. At parties, I watched from the chair in the corner giggling at my friends and enjoying their presence. I enjoy life from the "sidelines" and I was and still am completely okay with that.

Many people will argue with introverts claiming that they are not living their "best life" because they don't put themselves out there. The thing is we are living our best lives, we enjoy living through other people's experiences. We do not need to go out on the dance floor or sing along to the songs to have a good time.

Introverts aren't always anti-social, just being around more than a handful of people can be draining. We don't get our energy from being the life of the party, we get our energy from our alone time. Introverts are big on spending time alone to recharge and nothing is wrong with recharging. Being alone or excluding yourself from these social settings is what we need to do to and it's refreshing.

Yes, I know we're quiet. Yes, I know we do not talk a lot. No, we are not shy. No, we are not stuck up. I just do not talk to you because I choose not to. Small talk is exhausting and has zero benefits for us. That does not make us rude or anything, we just do not enjoy discussing the weather.

While we are sitting in the chair in the corner of the party, we enjoy people watching, and observing our surroundings. Watching our friends having fun lets us also have fun because seeing them enjoy themselves is enough for us. We're curious and enjoy staying quite so that everyone else can talk. We like to listen to the things around us, and let all the information soak up. We keep to our bubble and let the rest of the world keep spinning.

Just because we like to keep to ourselves does not mean we do not have fun, or mean that we want to be alone all the time. When we are around the group of people that we feel most comfortable with, we can be loud and wild. Not everyone gets to see that side of us, and that is okay

We don't hate people or think we are better than everyone else. We need a reason to talk and the energy to talk to engage in a conversation.

Grabbing our hands and pulling us from that chair in the corner into the middle of the party won't "fix" our quietness. We will just be quite in a sea of people and become awkward. Saying that we need "to put myself out there" won't automatically make us an extrovert. Do not push us out of our shells because we'll retreat further into them. We are enjoying our lives even though it is not how you enjoy your life and that is okay.

Living life on the sidelines can be beneficial, it is our personalities and what makes us, us. We enjoy the world differently and peacefully.