Late Bloomer in the Extrovert Game

Part-1 – https://wp.me/p84YjG-5H4

For me, the steps toward becoming an extrovert came very late in life. Even though I always had the same family, ran businesses, played soccer, and was constantly surrounded by people, I never really stepped out.

I wrote a lot of poetry, but all of it was private. I think because I was always in busy environments, I clung to having my own space, my own time, hidden away doing whatever I wanted. That was my balance. It wasn’t until I made a big decision to start writing blogs and build my own website that I began to turn outward.

Blogging Was the Spark

Once I began blogging, I made a conscious effort to get out there and meet people to gather stories, voices, and real moments for my content. That decision, putting myself in unfamiliar situations, was the biggest shift in my life. That was the beginning of my slow evolution out of introversion.

Talking to Strangers (Was the Hardest Part)

The number one step for me? Building up the courage to go talk to random people and ask them what they did.

In my case, that meant chatting with locals in Bali, asking how they ran their businesses, what their day looked like, and what mattered to them. Given my limited Bahasa Indonesia, this wasn’t easy. In fact, it made being an extrovert even harder.

But in a strange twist, my lack of fluency made it easier for people to talk to me. They found it funny. Interesting, even. Here was a guy from Canada trying to interview them in broken Indonesian, and they respected the effort.

More Than a Visitor

Most people come to Indonesia, take in the scenery, snap a few photos for social media, and leave. But I wasn’t just passing through. I was living here. Staying. I became part of the people, part of the culture, and without realizing it, wove myself into Bali.

And as I started opening up and talking to people, gathering stories and sharing them, I slowly stopped being ashamed of not speaking the language fluently. I embraced it. I embraced being human, imperfect, and in progress.

My Process, My Shift

This is how things began to change for me. A simple process: talking to people I had never met, asking them questions, listening to their stories, and learning how to connect, even when I didn’t always know the right words. I found myself immersed in a world rich with diverse perspectives and experiences that challenged my own.