Here are a few of the good and bad items:
- The recurring statement in my yearbooks from year to year, "Speak up so people will know who you are!"
- From people who only know me a little, "You're so quiet"
- From the outgoing and strong willed ones, "Speak your mind." I can't express enough how annoying this is to quiet people like me.
- Fifth grade student teacher stopped me from reading out loud partly to praise, and also to explain to the whole class how I read the interrogative sentence with the correct intonation
- I have a good audio voice and read out loud well
- On a theatre stage, I was told that I spoke loud enough to be heard down the hallway into the backstage area--with the stage door closed--and have shocked peers during drama class with my projection. (Fun times. Love the shock factor)
- I sound friendly, well spoken and nice on the phone
- I talk like I'm intelligent and down to earth (someone once told me she thought I held a higher college degree than I did because of how I speak)
- The only times I raise my voice are moments when I get frustrated or angry, which happens rarely (sometimes those moments involve me being half asleep). That's when my Jekyll/Hyde syndrome kicks in
- When I do get the chance to speak in front of people, I've been told that I express myself well and that I sound eloquent
I have often been mistaken as being shy. There were countless instances when adults overlooked me on something or other because they thought I'd be too shy to do it. Being the good kid that I was, I didn't complain about their decisions, but inwardly I was terribly disappointed and probably heart broken a few times because of it. Truth was that I loved talking in front of people...still do, but because I was quiet, no one ever considered me. Such is the life of the quiet one, and for a long time I really struggled with being that way, but learned as I went to college and met new people who liked me that being quiet wasn't something I needed to be ashamed of. I saw that it was a strength that blessed me with insights and a perception that was valuable to others.
