The Take-off!

"I just can't start a conversation with women, and it's killing me. I'll see a female who I've been making good eye contact with, but I'm too shy to talk to her. Later when I'm at home I yell at myself for not trying. I know they're not all going to come to me. It really bothers me that I'm so shy. I'm really afraid that if this keeps up I'll miss my chance to find my one true love. "

Racing of the heart, a rise in body temperature, hot flushes, churning stomach and a funny feeling that you want to run away from that place... these are the symptoms of shyness! These shy people appear outgoing..like when they appear on stage... actors and actresses... they perform brillianly but when it comes to personal life they are introverts.

Similarly when performing in a group, while singing songs in a group, our shyness makes us lower our voice so that our singing may not be heard outside. But once the shyness is got over we may be the loudest in the group! Similarly when a performer of a show requests the audience to clap, how many of us would be ready to clap loudly along with the music? Shyness prevents us from doing so and that is because we imagine that others are better than us.

Some find it difficult to do something as simple as smile and say "hello" to someone. If they don't tend to smile easily, they are afraid to "force" a smile out of the subconscious fear that it will be seen as "phony" by others. Studies say that the first thing women looks on men is the smile and laugh!

Once we start imagining that we are equal to others in all apsects this shyness would be gone. It may be a slow and steady progress but its worth all the efforts!

HPriya Sivan