“Ring,” goes the school bell. The sound of chairs scratching the floor and feet shuffling as people rush to the lunch room. I purposely skipped the lunch line as the smell of steamed broccoli made me want to throw up, so I just went and found my table. I made my way across the lunch room and quietly sit next to a “friend”. I take out my phone and start responding to messages when she turns to me and says “ You're so boring.” In my head, I was like, “define boring?” because I never thought of myself as boring. Suddenly, I was made aware of how people may have perceived me. Did it bother me? Well, yeah. To be honest I was always just trying to stay in my own lane and it was weird that other people had this perception of me. Did this realization become an insecurity that lasted me for years? Well, yeah. “Why don't you talk?” was the most annoying question of my childhood. The answer to this question, although it may sound rude, was that I simply didn't want to talk. I never really minded this quality about myself. Instead of participating in school gossip and mean girl activities, I felt comfortable just being lost in my thoughts. Thinking about music, celebrity gossip, guessing what was going to be for dinner and other silly things basically ran through my mind. Initially, I was non- insecure about being quote on quote being the quiet girl. I never thought I was a boring person because at home I am basically the life of the party - my main job being that I make my siblings laugh, lightening the mood if there is tension and I am told that I am the glue to our family since I am neutral. Part of growing up means that one may become more confident in who they are. My family and friends noticed that I was more outspoken and were pleasantly surprised. However, there were some people who interpreted my new narrative from “why are you so shy,” to “you used to be a sweet girl.” To become more outspoken does not mean that one is less “sweet,” and being more open was associated as being bad - which is incredibly weird because shouldn't girls be encouraged to speak up for themselves? I realized that leaving my “quiet” personality in the past is part of my growth and will help me with getting to wherever I am going in this life. I am not sure what exactly motivated me to be bolder, maybe it was simply not caring anymore, maybe it was realizing that life is more fun when you let go, and throw in a little joke here and there.