learning a language accidentally made me more social and I'm still processing it

this is going to sound weird but hear me out. I've been a textbook introvert my whole life. small talk drains me, phone calls give me anxiety, I'd rather eat lunch alone than sit in a noisy group. I'm not shy exactly I just run out of social energy fast.

about a year ago I started learning spanish. mostly as a solo hobby. flashcards, podcasts, youtube. classic introvert activity. sit alone with headphones, learn stuff, talk to nobody. perfect.

the problem was I eventually realized I couldn't actually speak. I understood a lot but the second I had to say something out loud my brain would freeze. and every piece of advice was "just talk to people" which is basically the introvert equivalent of telling someone with a broken leg to just walk it off.

so I started having conversations in Issen (http://www.issen.com), which is an AI tutor you talk to in Spanish. The whole reason I tried it was specifically because it wasn't a real person. no judgment, no awkward silences, no small talk, no scheduling calls with strangers. just me talking to my phone in my apartment at 7am in my pajamas. the lowest pressure way to practice speaking imaginable.

Here's the part I didn't expect. After about a month of doing this every day something started changing outside of Spanish too. I started noticing I was less nervous in regular conversations. not because I was suddenly extroverted but because I'd been training myself to just say things out loud without overthinking them for 15 minutes every single day. the muscle of "think it then say it" was getting stronger in general not just in spanish.

Last month I went to a friend's birthday party and actually talked to three people I didn't know. in english obviously but still. old me would have stood in the corner with my phone. instead I was starting conversations. my friend literally asked me if I was okay because she'd never seen me like that. And then two weeks ago a colombian coworker found out I was learning spanish and started talking to me in spanish at lunch. and I just responded. no freezing, no panic, no switching to english. we talked for like 20 minutes and it was the most natural thing. a year ago both of those situations would have been unthinkable.

I'm not saying I'm an extrovert now. I still need my alone time and I still hate phone calls. but the constant daily practice of just getting words out of my mouth without pressure somehow rewired something in my brain around talking to people. like I accidentally did exposure therapy on myself without realizing it.

anyway this wasn't supposed to be a language learning post but I guess it kind of is. if any of you have ever wanted to learn a language but felt like the speaking part was designed for extroverts only it doesn't have to be. you can practice completely alone and still end up surprising yourself.