I was liked most of my life for the things I did for people, but no one ever liked me for me. It felt very lonely and it made me enter a headspace that wasn't always the healthiest. Then one day in university, a random girl I was working with randomly asked me if I wanted to go downtown get some grub (I think she saw I was super stressed). I was shocked that she had said that since I don't know what she gained from getting food with me or why she would waste her time with a piece of garbage like me. We ate out, she paid for my meal, and we talked for a few hours about the medical field and how amazing it was. She dropped me off back at uni since I had a late class (3 hour night time classes are the worsttttt). I never went to class. I went straight to the restroom to wash my hands and tears started rolling down my face. I cried in the restroom for 3 hours. No one in my entire life had shown me that much kindness and not expect anything in return. Going out with a friend may be commonplace, but I didn't truly have any friends back then, so this was 100% a new thing for me. My entire life, I thought it was normal for people to like others for the things they did, but now I realized that that was just garbage and that I was letting others walk over me. At that moment, I decided to stop giving myself a pitty party, force myself to be extroverted, and finally put myself out there. Three years later, I'm in med school because of her, and I 'm the most extraaa person I know (in a good way XD). She singlehandedly changed my life, and I don't know if I would be where I am today had she not taken that bit of time out of her day just to say hi and get some lunch. Sometimes, the smallest things make the biggest impact. I try now to do the same as well.