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Is it bad that people (colleagues) point out how quiet I am?

People at work often point out how quiet I am and I don't whether to take it as an insult/bad thing, or if they're just stating facts.
Even if they're just stating facts, I don't know why they feel the need to say it.
The reason it upsets me is that people at school used to make me feel like an alien for being quiet, and teachers used to say it was a bad thing as well, so now I see it as a personality flaw.

Although i'm quiet at work, i'm a LOT more talkative than I used to be at school, so I think I have progressed. I say hello and good morning to everyone and take part in conversations (apart from ones that I can't relate to and have nothing constructive to add, for example, when they were talking about their children or fasting to lose weight). That's why it took me by surprise when quite a lot of my colleagues on separate occasions told me I am very quiet. The other day, I had just been having a full-on conversation with a guy, and then he said "You're very quiet, aren't you?".
I had just spent the past 10 minutes talking to him, so I don't know why he said that.

The fact that so many people keep pointing it out is making me feel uncomfortable. So what if i'm quiet? I still communicate well and make conversation with people. I just don't like to take part in gossip and don't speak if I have nothing useful/funny to say. And most importantly, I communicate well with the patients and make them feel more at ease. The other day, it was fairly quiet in the clinic I was doing, so I just spent the whole afternoon chatting to patients in the corridor. Would a person who is apparently "really quiet" do that?

It makes me feel alienated even though i'm trying so hard to fit in.

Reply 1

Lostrider

It is definitely not a personality flaw! Honestly, it's just a little part of who you are and does not define you as a person at all. having said that, I was very self-conscious and quiet in school... now, having finished uni, I have improved a LOT with this but still am quite nervous around new people. either way, it's ok to be more introverted and I'm sure those people who have said you are quiet don't mean to make you feel alien and different, it just might be that your more introverted-ness is a little new to them :smile: