What is Shyness? Do you feel uncomfortable in large gatherings? Do you find it difficult to approach new people; or talk to strangers? Would you rather sit at home with an excellent book or movie and a hot cup of tea than hang out with many friends at the mall? If these things hold for you, you might just be suffering from social anxiety, known in common parlance as extreme shyness.
5 Ways to Overcome your Shyness
Here are the top 5 ways to overcome your shyness and natural inhibitions and go out into the world filled with strange new things that await you!
1. Find Others Like Yourself to Overcome Shyness
If you are a thoroughbred introvert, you probably won’t gel all that well with a true-born extrovert or enjoy their hobbies and pastimes. An extroverted person might consider it great fun to throw a party with 50 of their friends, while to you, this would be nothing short of pure torture. It is not your fault or theirs. You two have different ideas about what it is to have a good time.
When in a crowd of people, try to scout out kindred spirits: Fellow introverts. The girl sits quietly in the corner of the room with a book. The guy is drinking a cup of coffee alone at the café. These are people you’d likely find easier to connect to, as they function more or less similar to you. And once the connection has been formed, you two can curl up on a sofa with steaming cups of chocolate, all set for a night of horror movie marathons!
2. Practice Meeting New People to Overcome Shyness
Think up scenarios in your head where you might have to meet many new people! Suppose you got a new job; your dad got transferred to a new city; you joined a new course at college. It doesn’t matter what the scenario, just that there’s a bunch of strangers standing before you with friendly, expectant smiles on their faces, and you’ve got to introduce yourself to them in an open and welcoming manner. We know it’s scary, but it’s just make-believe. For now, at least.
Practice in front of a mirror if you need to until you are comfortable, at least with its idea, if not the reality. Once you have gained some confidence, go out there and put your newfound skills to the test. Say ‘hi’ to at least one new person you haven’t spoken to before, be it a classmate, a colleague, or just the sweet old cat lady next door.
Be nice and friendly, and form an acquaintance. You might slip up the first couple of times and may even ditch the whole plan at the last moment, but if you keep at it with perseverance, sooner or later, meeting new people will come naturally and won’t be a scary deal anymore!
3. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone to Overcome Shyness
Have you never danced before? Well, join a dance class! You never know, it can be great fun! Go skydiving, learn skateboarding or ride a bike to your workplace. Do stuff you never thought you’d do before! In other words, get out of your comfort zone!
The more you expose yourself to new experiences, the more active and vibrant your life will be! Being in the same place, doing the same things daily, year after year breeds complacency and lethargy. It makes life monotonous and tends to make us more reclusive.
This will breed confidence, which will give you the impetus to try out even more new things and have exciting experiences. It will also provide you with the momentum and energy to become more sociable and self-assured around other people.
4. Join a Performing Arts Class to Overcome Shyness
Dance, stage-singing, acting, theatre, hell, even elocution and debate! It doesn’t matter what it is. Get yourself a new hobby and join a class that would allow you to speak or perform in front of large groups of people. It will be difficult and scary at first. But facing our fears makes us stronger and helps us grow and mature as people. As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
A few hours a week of drama and elocution certainly won’t kill you. What it will do, however, is develop your’ people skills and public-speaking abilities. Performing before an audience will also help you get over your fear of large groups of people. Overall, it’s a good and relatively easy way of awakening your inner performer and stunning the world with your newer, more relaxed persona!
5. A Friend a Month Challenge to Overcome Shyness
Challenge yourself to make a new friend or acquaintance every month, or every other month, whatever makes you more comfortable. Go out and find people you can connect with and talk to for hours. It doesn’t matter how weird or awkward it is at first. Because by the end of this exercise, you’ll be a rich girl! Rich in friends and richer in self-confidence!
So go out there, and make sure you have all the fun in the world! After all, that’s what life is all about.
