Can a man ever change without losing who he is?

I have had this internal struggle for a long time. There are a few characteristics of mine that I feel are quite different from others. This gives me quite a few strengths and a few significant weaknesses too. I am always afraid of changing myself. My thought process is that if I change myself, I would become someone else who is not my true self. Due to this, I am always hesitant to change myself.

To give a bit of background about myself. I am 25M. I am a very introverted person. I generally keep everything to myself. But I am quite good at observing everything, finding patterns and always curious to know about all the stuff. This took me distance and made me who I am today. But it came with a big disadvantage. I always took time to trust new people. It always takes time for me to connect to a person and trust them. This made me very bad at small talk and forming new bonds. Whenever I tried to be more extroverted, it always felt like I am faking it and not being my true self.

At this point, I want to change but not by destroying my true self. Has anyone else struggled with these thoughts? I need some genuine advice.