by: Pete Grand
Although shyness can be overcome, there is a fair chance that certain aspects of your shyness will remain a part of you for life. This is not something to worry about for there are many ways to deal with shyness. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
1. Get to know yourself well. If you consider yourself shy, you must learn to identify your strengths and weaknesses. While this is good advice for anyone, shy people must especially make full use of their strengths to avoid unnecessary vulnerability in difficult situations. Please take note that this does not mean you should avoid being assertive and stating your own opinions. This simply means that you should maximize the use of your strengths to compensate for your shyness.
2. Identify your form(s) of shyness. Whether you suffer from a minor form of shyness or from extreme social anxiety, you should get to know what exactly triggers your shyness and what you can do about it. Certain people are only shy while being in the spotlight; others may get anxiety attacks from simply being introduced to someone new. Once you identify your form of shyness, you will know exactly what to work on.
3. Work with your shyness. There is no point in fighting your shyness to the point of making yourself feel down about it. You should start by accepting the fact that you may occasionally encounter setbacks in certain aspects of your social life. At the same time, you must realize that you possess one of the greatest gifts on this planet. You have the ability to be a great listener and to grasp important details that other people may not take not of. Most shy people underestimate the value of this communication skill. You must also realize that while being shy can be difficult, achieving success is very possible. All shy people have the potential to succeed. In fact, shyness can often make people even more determined to accomplish their goals. There are numerous shy people who have done incredible things with their lives that even the most confidant people could never accomplish.
4. Focus on one aspect of your shyness. Shyness can only be overcome with a tremendous amount of work. If you plan on overcoming your shyness, you cannot be unrealistic with your expectations. Perfecting your social interactions in all possible conditions will never be achieved at once. Here are some examples of various aspects that you could work on: self-esteem, body language, communication, teamwork, public speaking, networking, interactions with the opposite sex, etc.
5. Never give up on your shyness. Aim for the stars and at the very least, you will reach the moon. Continuously read up on shyness and other forms of self-help, which may be of use to you. Never let anyone bring you down and lower your self-esteem. You have the power to overcome your shyness and live your life to the fullest.