“I appreciate you, my love. I appreciate that you allow your texts to go unanswered for weeks at a time. I appreciate you giving me space when I feel the walls are closing in on me. I appreciate you forcing your way into my mind when I have been quiet for too long. And I appreciate your reassuring hand when my thoughts tell me to push you away and my actions carry out this order accordingly.”
There is a common misconception that being an introvert means you must have some form of social anxiety; the two terms are not interchangeable nor mutually exclusive. Introversion and social anxiety share some commonalities, but they do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.
I thought it would be nice to share my experience as an introvert with social anxiety would help differentiate the two.
Refusing to play by the rules is seen as a millennial trait instead of our parents or grandparents acknowledging the times are shifting. I feel people say “it’s your wedding, you can do what you want.” Then in the next breath go, ” but, you HAVE TO do these things.” I am taking the former to heart, at the cost of being labeled as the worst.