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Trusting my intuition despite social pressures
The day was bright and sunny, around 5 PM in the afternoon a few hours after my school was let out. I was at my weekly dance studio, waiting for my dad to pick me up.
Walking past me and holding her Dad’s hand, Sally (*changed her name) walked past me. It was in that moment that I thought of what to say.
Hold up, let’s scroll back to what happened earlier that year
Throughout my time at this dance studio, I knew that I was an outcast. I was a kid, not yet knowing I was introverted, who liked to stick to myself and do only the things that I liked. If someone asked me to join them in an activity, if it was fun then “heck yeah!”, but if not then I would get bored easily.
The girls at my dance studio were totally different, they were city girls while I was living in a rural neighborhood, and they only liked to talk instead of doing fun things.
If you can’t tell already, I didn’t fit in. Maybe it wasn’t because I didn’t like the same things as them, maybe it was simply because I was different. But thinking back now, I think it’s because they didn’t like someone who didn’t have a mom to do the same activities that their extroverted mom’s did, that’s my best guess anyway.
Scroll forward to present day
I knew Sally was a bit of a prude, we were only 10 years old, yet she acted more like an adult than I was used to.
As she walked by, her red hair shining in the gleam of sunlight through the glass door ahead, I was seated at a chair by the door and had a sudden thought. Firstly, I noticed with my keen observation skills that she was with her Dad (different than her usual days being picked up by her Mom), so I had a gut instinct that maybe I could give her a “bye” and see what happens.
So I did just that, I said, “Bye Sally!”
Sally glanced over at me, giving a blank expression (or maybe she had a smug look on her face, I don’t remember), she looked back ahead and continue walking with her dad to the door. But in that same second her Dad turned to her and asked, “Why didn’t you say bye to her?”
I had a slight suspicion that her Dad asking that would help in some way, I just didn’t know how yet.
The next day
Walking into the studio room, Sally was already there and metaphorically races to me. “Hi OJ! How was your day?”
I’m surprised, yet I don’t remember exactly what happens next. Though I know that I’m, of course, friendly back at her. After that, Sally remains friendly with me the whole class and causes some of her other friends (5 other girls in the class) to be friendly with me too. I guess it’s an extrovert herd mentality thing?
Thinking back on it now, I realize that if I hadn’t been friendly to Sally when she was leaving, then her Dad would’ve never confronted her or helped her be friendly.
It’s a small thing, helping a girl at 10 years old. But I hope it’s helped her to be friendly to this day.
After all, if I wasn’t introverted enough to observe what was happening, I would probably have continued having a bad experience staying in that dance studio.
Life lesson: Speak up and use your observation skills to your advantage introverts! You never know how you’ll help someone.