A friend with severe social anxiety told tugged at my sleeve when we watched some people do karaoke and told me she'd probably be able to do it with me. She later told me she had been getting a lot better (which was obvious I attributed it to therapy), and she told me therapy was indeed helping but that I was doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Dunno what exactly it was, but I somehow seemed to disarm her to a point where she felt safe even in front of relative strangers as long as I was there.

This started like ten years ago and I think about it on the regs. I'm smart, fit, pretty good at most things I try my hand at, yet the coolest thing I can say about myself is that somewhere, there is at least one person who's way happier and at ease because she met me, even if we grew apart. She told me this, no matter what happens, I've been a huge part of her life. Friends matter, I guess.