5 Mindsets I Adopted To Be Less Shy

Whenever I interact with someone new it is a bit of a ‘Testing the Waters’ Phase.

At the start I have to see how the person reacts and interacts with both my attitude and the things I talk about.

How receptive are they to certain topics? Are they open-minded or closed-minded? What interests them and how do they feel right now?

Whereas with friends and family I could make educated guesses, not knowing much about a person leaves these questions totally in the unknown.

It was therefore very easy to make a step in the wrong direction, to overwhelm someone with my point of view or attitude and to leave them feeling worse because of it.

It is for this reason I held back, which was often viewed as being shy, to which I would largely agree.

That all being said however, I used to be a lot more shy.

In my teenage years and well into my early twenties I held back much more than I do today.

I used to feel like I never had anything worthwhile to talk about or like I would just disrupt the flow of the conversation if I did.

When the conversation did pivot to me I felt I talked mostly about myself because it was the only thing I felt comfortable talking about, for I made too many missteps before.