Shyness Support Group

I have been really shy all my life. I don't have many friends because of that. It is really very hard for me to start a conversation. Even with my own family. I only have one friend. I'm trying to make friends but it's very hard for me.

karen.

I can relate to what you just said. I have been shy my whole life, really insecure. Talking to people is really hard....I feel like I'm so different from anybody else that I don't fit in. I've often times felt this way around my family, too.

Social situations are terribly awkward and hard for me. I am really uncomfortable around most people and especially new people.

It's the same here.

I can't talk to people I don't know, and even with people I do know, find it hard to completely be myself.

One on one conversations are the worst - I try to keep them going, but before long I just run out of ideas of what to say, and the conversation dies awkwardly.

Zetsubuo, I feel the same way. One on one conversations are pretty bad for me. The only people I feel really comfortable with are my husband or Parents. I feel horribly inadequate and boring when I talk to people, which is the reason I seldom do and shy away from it as much as I can!

Hi. I'm new to this group. I have been shy my entire life also and can't even talk to family it's so bad. My boyfriend and mom are the only people I'm not shy around.

I can really relate. I can be myself around my Mom, Dad, Sister and Husband and that's it. Anybody else, I have debilitating shyness around and am completely awkward and self conscious. It's horrible!! I do horrible in group settings, too.

I got so tired of feeling awkward I finally decided to just let other people feel uncomfortable if I have nothing to say instead of panicking about it. It has been the only thing that has finally made me able to be around people. I'm still shy and there are still large gaps of conversation that other people would be able to fill but the difference is I'm not freaking out. I stay calm and let it all be. If conversation dies so be it. If I make people uncomfortable so be it. If I stammer and look at the ground so be it. The mindset has changed me so immensely I have found myself a changed person. I will talk to people quite confidently and with no fear and the whole time be boggled and wonder who is this self confident person I'm being. I don't walk away shaky and regretful nearly as often. And if I'm not up to talking I allow myself to not speak. I spent my whole life trying to protect other people from the awkwardness of my shyness and only a few years ago decided to take care of me.

But that said I also quit my last job and I never go to family gatherings. I suppose I can let it be because I rarely have to be confronted with my shyness anymore. I hope though that I can carry that attitude into any future job or get together. I know at my last job I was a million times better than I had been in the past.

That's a good attitude and a good way to look at things. I know my problem is worrying so much about what others think of me...and constantly scrutinizing everything I am gonna say. But I need to learn that if other people do think ill of me, so be it.

I quit my previous job because of social anxiety and shyness and recently started working somewhere new. It's been about 2 months and I am doing better at this new place. I'm trying to at least talk to people more.

Sammy, it definitely hasn't made me quit being shy but by embracing my shyness and deciding I'd rather be the way I am I at least feel more self confident. My real sadness is that I can't talk on the phone to my sister. I am even worse on the phone than in person and she lives a state away.