The joys of being BOLD?

I’ve often been told that I can be really loud in public, but I like to think that as being bold. The thing is, when I’m surrounded by people I love and care about, I don’t always notice others around me—they’re busy living their own stories. But being bold has made me a part of other people’s stories too, and I’m not sorry for that. It’s turned me into a storyteller, giving me stories of my own to share. Here are two of them.

I was playing Valorant at a gaming café, completely in the zone—screaming, raging, and blurting out everything any gamer would in the heat of the moment. After about 15 minutes, one guy noticed me and came over to say, “You’re fucking cool. You’re a true gamer.” I laughed and apologized, saying I might be a bit too loud. But he just waved it off, telling me that very few gamer girls are like that. He added that I reminded him of his wife and daughter and that he was glad he met me. He said I had fired him up and that I should keep doing what I was doing—it was funny. He then went back to his gaming chair, and I could hear him talking about me to his party for the next five minutes. Before he left, he came up to me one last time and said, “We might not meet again, but from one god gamer to another—keep grinding and be funny, it’s what makes gaming fun.” He was 37, and his name was Sal. We ran into each other a few times after that and played together.

Then there’s the time I met two of my strangest friends, Ashyle and Prash, at Flinders Street while waiting for another friend, Sridhi. We were talking about how we act when we get drunk, and Prash started talking about the horrific experience I had when he took his shirt off and gave me a lap dance while drunk. I teased him, saying, “I’ll give you 10 bucks if you do that right now in front of this whole crowd.” Keep in mind, we were at Flinders Street around 6 pm. He chickened out, but as we laughed, a couple of guys our age overheard and yelled, “Make it 20!” We all burst into laughter. Later, we went in to grab drinks together, and we ended up becoming friends.

The way I express myself, whether bold or loud, has led to some unexpected but meaningful connections. These stories remind me that being yourself can bring people into your life who appreciate you for who you are—quirks and all. Sometimes, the boldest moments leave the most lasting impressions.