The Belief That Held Me Back For Years
For most of my life, I misunderstood what it meant to be an introvert.
I thought it meant something was wrong with me.
That I was insecure, socially awkward and naturally worse at anything that required people skills.
I hated my personality because the world seemed to reward extroverts. The loud ones. The outgoing ones. The people who could light up a room on command.
None of that felt natural to me.
I convinced myself that being introverted was the reason why I struggled socially, why relationships were hard to maintain and why I wouldn’t succeed in certain business roles.
That belief held me back more than anything else.
Eventually, I realized I either had to keep living in my own head or do something about it.
So I went to work on the parts that were holding me back.
I put myself in situations I would normally avoid.
I went out alone.
Started conversations with strangers.
Practiced small talk even when I didn’t feel like it.
Made YouTube videos documenting the process.
Read multiple books to understand myself more:
- Quiet by Susan Cain
- The Secret Lives of Introverts by Jenn Granneman
- Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
- Personality Isn’t Permanent by Benjamin Hardy
I wanted proof that this belief was false.
Over time, I stopped seeing introversion as a disadvantage and started focusing on my strengths:
- I prefer deep conversations over surface-level ones
- I pay attention to details other miss
- I can be social when needed while still valuing my solitude
None of that limits success.
The real limitation wasn’t my personality.
It was letting a false belief decide who I was allowed to become.
I’m sharing this because I know a lot of people feel the same. They treat introversion like a weakness and they’re paying the same price I did.
If any part of this feels familiar, here’s the reframe that changed everything for me:
Being an introvert isn’t the problem. Believing it’s a limitation is.
Once you drop that belief, you can build whatever skills you want.
You can rewrite any part of your identity.
You can become someone you’re proud of without pretending to be someone else.
— Johnny