What follows is my This I Believe statement. It details a concept I experienced to be extremely important in my own life. As a young boy I wasn't popular, wasn't tall, and wasn't cool. As a result I tended to stick to myself. But as you read you'll learn how I branched out, met people, and ultimately came out of the shell in which I hid.
Leaving your shell
When I was young I didn’t have many friends. I had my one close friend who lived down the street, but when it came time to go to school I realized I was mostly alone. As I became more comfortable with people I tried to make friends, but I was only met with toxicity. It seemed that everyone was evil and mean and wanted to pick on me for anything and everything. Of course,
it was because I was a scrawny redhead who was easily targeted because I crumbled under the jeering of my peers. Eventually I stopped trying to be friendly with my classmates and stuck to my schoolwork. This was junior high school and kids were cruel, but only because they felt insecure about themselves. Or so that’s what my mother told me. But I figured if someone made a
joke about me, I would make a joke about myself too. That way they would lose interest because they didn’t get a rise out of me. It worked most of the time. I realized comedy could perhaps help my situation.
I made it through junior high and got to high school, where other junior high schools combined to form our freshman class. Within a day of being a freshman I met nice people. This was completely foreign to me because it seemed that mean was the only trait others possessed was being mean. I slowly realized that those insecurities that we all felt in elementary and junior high school faded and so did the childish jeering. I immediately felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders as I sat at a lunch table filled with my classmates who actually were nice to me. After 8 years I started making friends and becoming more comfortable in social settings. Most of this stemmed from my desire to bring comedy into the mix. See, that trait I developed stayed with me. I could react to situations and make one short quip in response and elicit laughter from everyone at the table. Making others laugh boosted my confidence because I felt that if I brightened someone’s day it would make up for all the days in earlier years where I myself felt down in the dumps. I had fun at high school and enjoyed my time there because I was around people I liked and those people liked me in return. I made friends. I felt happy. All because I stuck it out and rolled with the punches. It all paid off and I can say I’m no longer an introvert. I believe in the greatness that follows when you leave your shell.
it was because I was a scrawny redhead who was easily targeted because I crumbled under the jeering of my peers. Eventually I stopped trying to be friendly with my classmates and stuck to my schoolwork. This was junior high school and kids were cruel, but only because they felt insecure about themselves. Or so that’s what my mother told me. But I figured if someone made a
joke about me, I would make a joke about myself too. That way they would lose interest because they didn’t get a rise out of me. It worked most of the time. I realized comedy could perhaps help my situation.
I made it through junior high and got to high school, where other junior high schools combined to form our freshman class. Within a day of being a freshman I met nice people. This was completely foreign to me because it seemed that mean was the only trait others possessed was being mean. I slowly realized that those insecurities that we all felt in elementary and junior high school faded and so did the childish jeering. I immediately felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders as I sat at a lunch table filled with my classmates who actually were nice to me. After 8 years I started making friends and becoming more comfortable in social settings. Most of this stemmed from my desire to bring comedy into the mix. See, that trait I developed stayed with me. I could react to situations and make one short quip in response and elicit laughter from everyone at the table. Making others laugh boosted my confidence because I felt that if I brightened someone’s day it would make up for all the days in earlier years where I myself felt down in the dumps. I had fun at high school and enjoyed my time there because I was around people I liked and those people liked me in return. I made friends. I felt happy. All because I stuck it out and rolled with the punches. It all paid off and I can say I’m no longer an introvert. I believe in the greatness that follows when you leave your shell.