Starting school again this fall: How do I overcome my shyness and fear of embarrassing myself?

Tim Ferriss has advice to offer. What you should do it ask yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?” If you do that and go through what you think the consequences are you’ll see that in the end, they just aren’t that bad.

check out his blog at http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Social anxiety is a well-recognized phenomenon, and lends itself very well to psychotherapeutic treatment. Gone are the days when one needed to talk endlessly about one’s dreams and one’s mother.

Find a trusted Cognitive-Behavioral therapist, and ask for a directed course of brief intensive desensitization therapy for this one condition. Within about six-to-eight weeks you will find that you no longer have a problem. Just make sure you do your research carefully to determine that the person is well-trained.

You don’t need a psychiatrist – CSWs are just fine (psychiatrists nowadays mainly dispense medications) you just need someone well-grounded in CBT or one of its variants, like Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and, again, check references and bona fides.

I consider myself a pretty big introvert and quite shy at times. I struggled with this a little in college as well, and what I found helped was getting involved in different groups or organizations. Most schools/colleges have different organizations or groups based on a myriad of things. If you’re in college try joining a society that is for your field of study. If you like sports find a league. Etc.

The more you get out and meet people the easier it becomes, and one of the easiest ways to feel comfortable around people is doing something you enjoy and/or are good at. Also, don’t just stick with one type of group. Try to do things that are a little out of your comfort zone or are with diverse people.

I’m not going to say I’m now an extrovert or always love to be around big groups of unknown people, but I’m comfortable and at times rather enjoy being in those situations.

I’m generally not the type of person to seek professional help, but if your case is serious enough @pdworkin‘s advice might be the best way for you.

It was helpful for me to live in the dorms my first two years. That got me out of my little bubble really quickly because you live so close to everyone else.

Thank you, everyone. I think I have to do some soul-searching to figure out the worst-case cenario, as @gggritso suggested, and I’ll do some more reading about it. I’ll check out that blog as well.

And maybe a couple of hours with a CBT isn’t such a bad idea, just to get my head around what the REAL issues are and to get some hints to make it easier.

And in the long run, I guess I just have to just get my act together and jump in the proverbial melting pot, come what may.

I was the same way in school. I have been told that when you stop thinking about yourself, and what’s going to happen to you, and substitute what other people are going through, it should help. Make an active effort to find someone who seems to need help, and ask if you can be of assistance. Get a job on the school activities committee, and spend your time planning activities instead.

My advice is to find the other introverts in your classes, and form and introvert clique where everyone is on the same level of shyness. At least for me, knowing that my friends are as withdrawn as I am makes me a lot more comfortable with them.

@YARNLADY You know, that’s actually a really good idea! Maybe some volenteer-work or something like that? I’ll see what I can find.
Or I’ll find someone really outgoing that will take me under their wing, at least for a while…

@Milladyret When my grandson tried the neighborhood highschool for one year, they had a plan where every newcomer was assigned a Senior volunteer mentor who was there for their questions and to show them the ropes, so to speak.