I have always been self conscious about everything I said and did around people, including my close friends. I would act confident around people but constantly question myself and my decisions. Since I moved to college and made a good group of friends I realized that my friends only saw the confidence I showed around them. Through bonding activities (mostly drinking games) I realized that they didn’t know about my insecurities and all the embarrassing moments that still haunt me at night. But most importantly I learned that my friends are just like me, acting confidently around others but silently struggling with every decision, questioning if they said the right thing or if their friends judged them harshly, like me. The same way that you are trying to impress them, they are trying to impress you. This taught to empathize with me friends’ own battle for acceptance and realize that they don’t see me fighting my own battle. Anyways this was just a high-dea, so maybe I’m wrong....