being introverted, and the lack of acceptance of that in the US, is one of the hardest things in life for me. i think that the lack of acceptance of it is the main thing that caused me to be bullied from when I started school until the end of high school. It definitely exacerbated my shyness, depression and social anxiety. I'm slowly acheiving more of what is considered successful in our extroverted culture- I can do some public speaking, I can start a conversation in most situations, sometimes I can keep the conversation going as long as I want. Often I have the confidence to end a conversation when I want. But whenever something doesn't go well for me, I still usually wonder whether it's due to my unacceptable social skills and unacceptably quiet personality.