Walk a mile in my shoes

 There was a time in my life when I was still this terrible introvert that scares away from conversations especially with people or someone I've not gotten acquainted to. It also felt impossible to make new friends. To make things worse I look different from the rest of my siblings and people never failed to point it out. I'm the one who's skin is way much darker unlike my mom and other siblings who's skin was lighter, so then I didn't like being different because because always point it out, "Oh see this one, see how black she is, her mom is fair and she chose to be black!". Well back then hearing those comments were disturbing to me. Even some people said that I was the least cute in my family because of my skin color, so that made me feel sad most times. And the worse was when they'll say I look like a boy, and they were always mistaken me for a boy especially because we all used to keep a low cut then. Well, all of these were disturbing enough, and I even began to wish that I looked more like my mom. One holiday period we all decided to go someone's wedding in a village, that was when I heard something new about me. "Oh this girl has so much pride, She doesn't even smile and she keeps a straight face all the time, does she think the world revolves around her, even when everyone else is talking or playing instead of joining them she goes into the room instead as if the ones playing are not of her level." Yeah they said I have a bad attitude, but in reality I was just too introverted and also trying to avoid comments about me being different, but this one, this one hit differently they didn't try to understand me, they just concluded I had so much pride inside of me. well I felt very bad. But as I kept growing,I was starting to understand that being different is not bad, so that eased off my stress a bit. But I just didn't understand why those people called me proud and mean until one day I traveled to Uyo, and there were so many introverts, and there was one girl who never talks to anyone, especially her age, she walks away when a conversation is going on and she barely smiles. When I asked about the girl their response was: "Abeg leave that one! She's always so full of herself! She passed all the exams and tests at school now she thinks the world revolves around her" Well, I looked at the girl and saw her eyes, I knew she was proud, I thought of myself when I was also misjudged, so I tried to understand the girl instead, I realized she was also an introvert just like I was. I have been in her shoes severally where I have been misjudged so I didn't treat her that way too. And whenever anyone talked bad about her I tell them to try to understand people before judging them. The girl is a very brilliant girl, she was far from mean, she is kind, and helpful, and when she finally , it was beautiful ❤️. We kept talking and the girl began to open up mire to me, just like I do when I get acquainted with someone. We both agreed that being an introvert is not easy, especially when people always judge you without getting to know the real you. I was also able to share most of my experience with her and she was amazed because I didn't seem to her like an introvert and I was speaking to everyone confidently, I made her know that I've overcome most of those fears and I've learnt confidence in a good level and that she can too. I told her it took me years but its something attainable for her, she doesn't have to switch to become an extrovert, but confidence is what matters in life and that way she'll get most of the things she wants. She loved what I told her and we both agreed to help each other, well she was the furst close friend I made then and it felt wonderful. I could see her becoming more confident and that gave me so much joy. I felt good getting to know her before judging her and through that, I made myself a new friend!