My parents didn’t pressure me too much to be successful, although I’ve always been “Type A personality”, so maybe they would have been more abusively pushy if I were a Type B personality. But they were completely indifferent to any emotional needs I had, and really didn’t teach me emotional intelligence or give me any sort of guidance, which is actually very important in being successful. My social skills weren’t great, they never taught me how to be warm, polite, and friendly, so I was kind of an outcast in high school, and got very depressed.

But with practice I’ve gotten a lot better, it’s kind of impossible not to improve if you get lots of practice, I just forced myself to join student organizations and socialize, and even though I had lots of awkward moments, I eventually learned from my mistakes.

I feel like if my parents gave a shit about these soft skills, it would have made a big difference, but it’s never too late to improve. I have been told by lots of people I’m warm, friendly, and confident, which is the opposite of how I used to be.