Feeling A Little Shy?

By Sherly Montes

Editor

The nerves began as soon as my ride pulled up to the side entrance of Beacon Hall by the bookstore. I walked up the stairs, constantly reminding myself not to trip and make a fool of myself. As soon as I entered the building I felt awkward, maybe it was because every pair of eyes in that hallway shifted over to me. That definitely made me feel uncomfortable. I mean I know I’ve done that before to other people but because I was already nervous, that made me feel even more self-conscious. I quickly glanced down at my schedule and found that I was early and had some time to kill. I began to walk around the first floor of Beacon Hall, casually observing those around me.

I saw a lot of the same thing, people sitting alone and putting their bags next to them as to show that they didn’t want anyone to sit next to them, some students looking down at their cell phones or laptops to keep busy, others wandering around aimlessly with old friends or alone, and of course the ones standing right outside their classrooms by themselves hoping to see a friendly face to chat with.

As I continued to walk around the first floor of Beacon Hall, I saw a few familiar faces and smiled casually at them. It felt nice to see people I already knew and chat with them, I didn’t feel like such an outcast and I didn’t feel so alone then -- even if it was for a few short seconds.

With about ten minutes left for my first class to start, I headed down the hall to find my classroom. There were already several students waiting outside of our classroom. I didn’t know any of them. That’s got to be the worst, it being the first day of school and you don’t know anyone in your class.

Surely I’m not the only person who is shy like this.

According to a study done by LiveScience that was featured on NBC news in 2010, “About 20 percent of people are born with a personality trait called sensory perception sensitivity (SPS)”. This trait is what causes a person to be shy and act in certain ways. Shy people also think differently, compared to those who aren’t born with the SPS trait.

Standing in that busy hallway, I began to look at those that were standing outside of the classroom around me. It’s our human nature to study new people around us and so I looked at certain individuals, trying to sense what they were like.

Personally, I found talking to new people was a challenge because while I do get along with most people, I’m really quiet, shy, and I don’t normally like meeting new people. I don’t approach people that I don’t already know that often, and I prefer to just sit quietly on my own. I had just gotten to know and like those people in my classes last semester, and now I felt like I was being thrown into that same nerve wracking situation where I didn’t know a single person. I knew I was going to have to warm up to the new people in my classes and start conversations with them at some point. For someone like me, that’s not always easy because I’m naturally so shy and I often just observe the things that are going on around me without speaking.

“When in the company of other people, our minds automatically construct a map of the minds that surround us.” says Alex Lickerman, M.D. “We're constantly imagining and theorizing what other people are thinking—and making judgments about and having reactions to those imaginings.”

Lickerman is right, because that’s exactly what I was doing while I was standing outside of that classroom. The minutes were ticking by and I was just observing the people around me, being shy, not wanting to talk to anyone.

Shyness is one of those things that can have a lot of control over you, if you don’t control it. I’ve come to realize that many times, my shyness has held me back from doing the things that I want to do, it has also kept me from talking to people, and it has stopped me from voicing my opinions on several occasions.

Dealing with my shyness can be a challenge, but I know that eventually I’ll reach that level of comfort and my shyness won’t be a problem anymore.

In fact, you might find that it’s hard to shut me up after a while.