I'm fairly socially awkward and reserved which leads me to shy away from people at times.
I'm shy when I meet people for the first time so I just smile and giggle a lot until I know them
With individuals, once I get to know them a bit, no.
With groups, always, there is too much happening for me to focus on and I'm not good at seeing a group of people as a kind of single entity like some people seem to be able to do, and relate in that way to it.
Tell me more about how you see a group.
I see too many people, hear too much noise (especially when there are a lot of competing conversations... and I can't filter out background noise so I get overstimulated)... and it's just too chaotic for me.
Pretty much the same way you do.
But when I was instructed on giving speeches, etc, I was told to imagine that everyone is just a pumpkin and you're talking to a field of pumpkins, or a bunch of ants.
I suppose it was meant to calm anxiety but it never worked for me.
When the attention of a group of people is on me I wilt like the wallflower that I am.
If they wish to see me in full bloom they must do so out of the corners of their eyes when the group's attention is primarily focused on something else.
Something that helps me is that when i'm training I always think that they want information and need this information in order to do their jobs so that makes me feel better.
Pretty much the same way you do.
But when I was instructed on giving speeches, etc, I was told to imagine that everyone is just a pumpkin and you're talking to a field of pumpkins, or a bunch of ants.
I suppose it was meant to calm anxiety but it never worked for me.
When the attention of a group of people is on me I wilt like the wallflower that I am.
If they wish to see me in full bloom they must do so out of the corners of their eyes when the group's attention is primarily focused on something else.
I used to be too shy to sing in recitals.
I was told to imagine the audience dressed in nothing but their underwear. That didn't work. The thought of all of those people sitting in the audience, dressed in nothing but their drawers made me laugh really hard. I can't sing and laugh simultaneously.
What did work for me was removing my glasses. The audience turned into a big faceless blur. Surely, I could sing to a blur. Nobody was making faces so it was quite all right.
Eventually, though, I turned into a ham and started to like performing for an audience.
I used to be shy aswell and my piano teacher thought I was being disrespectful because I just wouldn't go and she fired me lol.
Oh my!
Fired by a piano teacher!
Do you have another one who understands about shy people???
I am shy.
It sort of waxes and wanes, though. There have been periods in my life where I have been very outgoing. It all seems to depend on how often I get out there and socialize. There more I do it, the more outgoing I become, and the more I spend time by myself the more I mold back into shyness.
"People who are shy, always think others are thinking things about them. when really other people don't care about other people other than themselves and so mostly think about themselves".
Don't agree with the first part of that. I consider myself pretty shy in some situations but I'm well aware that most other people are too wrapped up in their own concerns to give a shit