The things you do in your childhood really pave the way and define what you become as an adult.
I grew up as an introvert kid. I remember having very few friends, not being very popular in school and constantly keeping to myself during my younger days. My parents realised I was an introvert and constantly tried to make me come out of this bubble. Thus, they had me participate in various elocution and drama competitions in school.
But it really isn’t easy, especially with 200 people staring at you while you’re under the spotlight. Words fail to come out of your mouth, shivers run down across your spine and you kind of lose the ability to speak. Having unuttered a single word, you step off the stage only to be further made fun of, by people who didn’t believe in you in the first place. You start self-doubting your own abilities and thus, confidence levels hit rock bottom.
In these times, I resorted to playing football, alone. I used to be glued to the TV watching football and keep on having a kick about with the ball for hours together, until I got really good with it. My school had a football try-out, and as usual, my parents forced me to participate. I still have this clear memory with me of scoring the winning goal in the interschool competition and receiving a hero’s welcome in the school. People knew who I was, my name and started recognising me, and with that, my confidence automatically grew.
I started performing well in all areas, academically as well as extracurricular. One cannot wait for the right things to happen in life. For me, the struggle was real and yes, I had to work very hard to come out of it. But believing in yourself and never giving up hope opens up the path to all right things in life; that's what football taught me.
Introvert and Extrovert is just a phase of your confidence level, and mine had risen so much so, I remember being the Head Boy and delivering a speech on behalf on the entire batch of 200 students, and receiving a thunderous applause at the end of it.
The only thing that changed is the confidence with which I held the mic, and with that, the belief of those same 200 faces.