something that's slowly dawning on me is how i never realized that by following everybody's advice that i "should be less shy" or "less introverted" in order to finally make a single friend, how vulnerable it made me, and how constantly it's been hurting me over the years
this is the only advice i was ever given when i cried out as a kid that i have no friends. i have to be less shy. i have to be less introverted, join conversations i wasn't invited to. my mom went as far as saying shy people don't go to heaven.