I don't know about you

So it's fair to say I'm not a regular blogger. I struggle to find the time to write here, not because I'm out doing crazy life things but usually because I'm eating too much and watching old episodes of Spooks. I thought I'd try to write a bit more this month and so am going to jump on a little bandwagon, blogging everyday throughout May. First off I will point out the obvious, I've already missed a day. Let's just pretend that didn't happen and we'll start a fresh today, everyone knows that the 2nd is the best so this is definitely the day to begin this challenge. I found a list of post prompts here so will be mostly sticking to those ideas unless I get random inspiration in which case I will most certainly run with it.

Today's challenge is 
Day 2, Thursday: Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at. Take any approach you'd like (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)

Let me just say that I think this is quite a difficult one to begin with in that I don't think I'm overly good at anything and certainly not to the point that I'd be able to educate people on it. Then I remembered something I'm not so good at and thought I could swizzle it round to make it a positive thing.

I am good at being awkward. I don't mean that in a cute, random "awkward turtle" kind of way but more that it can be genuinely difficult to have a conversation with me or I struggle in social situations. Now I bet you're all thinking woah there this doesn't sound mightily positive. It may not be but I'm slowly coming to terms with this fact and the idea that I may never be one of the world social butterflies. I thought I'd share some tips I have if you've ever felt the same way.

• Do not compare yourself to others. For years I wished I could be more like my best friend. She's instantly likeable, funny and always good to be around. On the other hand I take a while to get to know, will spend a lot of time not talking to new people and make sarcastic comments that aren't always humorous to people who don't get me. But that is the way I am and there's really no point beating myself up about it, or not on a daily basis at least.
• Appreciate that you do have people in your life who want to be around you. When you have problems interacting with new people it can feel like you're going to be alone forever. This isn't true and you will always have friends and family members who you can be yourself with. It really is nice to have people who know you're not being rude if you just need time to yourself and don't want to spend all of your time with them.
• Take the time to do what you like. I have recently learnt that despite being told my whole life that I need to 'come out of my shell' in fact my shell maybe just the place I need to be. As an introvert I often need to escape the pressures of social situations and small talk and just be by myself. If you take the time to look after yourself you will be much happier in the long run and less likely to feel dragged down by your 'quiet' personality.

Well these aren't so much tips as things I like to tell myself whenever I get down about not being the most outgoing or chatty person in the world. Working in retail often feels like hard work for me because my job is dependant on good customer service which often involves chatty behaviour. Some days I find it harder than others but on hard days I try to remember that I was given the job for a reason. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same.

That turned into a long ramble I'm sure but it's been playing on my mind lately how much 'shy' or introverted people are put down for being the person they are. I've had enough of feeling less of a person because of my character traits and I feel like there must be others out there who think like me. If not, I hope this helps other people realise that it's not nice to berate those who may not be as social as yourself and that different people have different ways to get themselves through the day.

I promise not all of the months entries will be this wordy!