Shyness vs. Social Phobia: Where do we draw the line?
I could tell right away that my new friend was a very shy person. Everyone knows what a shy person is like: quiet, hates to be in the limelight, nervous about being in front of groups, etc. However, I didn’t realize just how shy my new friend was. It took a long time to get to know her and get her to open up to me, and since then we have actually had many conversations about her shyness. I am an extremely outgoing and loud person, so her timidity, quietness, and embarrassment over so many things just never made sense to me. I attempt all the time to get her to speak up, to be less self-conscious and scared about talking to people, even to me. She says that she can tell when she is “being stupid” (in her words), meaning when she feels like she should be saying something instead of being so quiet and awkward. Yet no matter what, she worries too much about talking to other people and how she is being perceived. With her permission and blessing, she has allowed me to use her as a base for
