hi! i am a third-year student who accepted becoming a resident assistant this year. it is currently move-in weekend for residents, (a good portion of them are first-year students) and i am seeking advice on how i can be a good RA as someone who finds it extremely scary and hard to talk to people.

i took this job because i wanted to give my future residents a great first-year because mine was not as i wanted, but i did not even think about how could i even make that happen if i cannot even talk to people lol. i have always not been able to talk to people my whole life and wanted to change that, but when given the opportunity, i find it increasingly difficult, almost impossible to do so. due to covid, most of the activities/programs are going to be virtual, so it’ll be a little less scary since it’s online, but it’s just hard to make small talk and i wonder if i am even going to be able to create a sense of community within my designated area. i sometimes feel like this is not a job for introverts because of the need to talk to residents and be surrounded by groups of people (despite what RD says) i just feel like i had this idea of what i wanted to be as an RA, but now that i am here, i do not think i can do it. i know this job is an opportunity for me to grow and branch out of my reserved self, i just do not know how to go about it. i’m still learning about myself and i believe this position will allow me to grow.

i am on a quarter system and i was thinking about doing it for this quarter, and then leaving if i do not think this is the best for me.

if you read thus far, thank you so much. i appreciate you. do any past/current introverted RAs, past/current RDs, or anyone else have any advice or thoughts? i’d greatly appreciate it. :)