About Shyness and Timidity

Excessive shyness or being overly bashful is a sign of insecurity, lack of confidence, an incorrect self image and low self esteem. When you are shy, you feel unsure of yourself in the company of others.

Some bad experiences during childhood could have caused you to become timid and withdrawn. When you are uncomfortable among others, you can't talk, express your opinions or ask for favors. Timidity can destroy your ambitions, your success with relationships and your life.

Introverts may find difficulty in starting and developing relationships because of the fear of rejection, being embarrassed and making mistakes. Coy people are self conscious and concerned about how and what other people see and think of them.

Overcoming Shyness and Introversion

Become aware of your inner chatters.

There is a positive intention in your behavior. Most likely you are trying to protect yourself from looking and feeling like a fool. Listen to yourself. Your words are powerful. Stop focusing on your lack. The more often you label yourself as a shy person, the more your subconscious mind will agree and prove to you that you are right.

Make a conscious effort to observe and listen to your inner chatters. You should interfere, question and fight back your inner critics that are telling you that you are inadequate.

Imagine a new self image

Another great way to overcome your bashfullness is to imagine the best possible outcome of a situation. In your mind, you can do anything including making the first move, talking in public and being assertive. Consistently practice becoming the person you want to become in your mind. Through practice and repetition, you are able to "act as if" you are confident and soon will become good at it.

Remove self doubt and over caution.

You must refuse to give in to self doubt. The past is over with faults and mistakes. You are a grown up and can act differently.

List down on a piece of paper why you are shying away from people and why you are afraid to speak up and become the real you who would love to have good company. Look at your list and question yourself if what you have written is true.

What can you do to improve? You can learn new skills, like how to improve your communication, enhance your self image and how to become more confident.

Look for role models.

A sure way to learn how to become more confident is to find role models who have assertive qualities. Learn from them and emulate. Since you believe you are bashful, you may not have the guts to ask. So observe them and practice doing the same. Read about how people overcome their timidity and start applying them to yourself.

Connect and interact with others.

You must fight your resistance to socialize. You should put in the effort to connect with others especially those who have positive qualities. Listen, observe and learn. These people will subtly influence your behavior and your thinking. Go out and join their company. Sitting home and shying away won't help you become bold.

Understand that people are caught up in their own world.

The trouble with self conscious individuals is that they think that other people are concerned about how they look and perform. Yes, there are judgmental people. But do you know that most of them are insecure and look for the weakness in others to validate their own worth? If you can keep that in mind, you'd go about living your life and not become bothered.

Most humans are so caught up in their own world and don't actually care much about you. Don't worry about trying to impress. Work on yourself. Strive to become a better inner and outer person and you'll walk, talk and act confidently.