“On Stage Shyness”

There are times where we feel shy and we feel the need to hide ourselves from people,
especially if it is a crowd. I am a talkative person and people don’t expect me to always have the courage
to stand in crowds and not feel an ounce of shyness, which is contrary to what I feel, because honestly I
was really shy, being talkative is just my way to avoid it.

I have been shy for as long as I remember. In class presentations, I always feel panicky and I tend
to overthink how our presentation is going to be. It is this sudden surge of feeling inadequately small or
out of place in a group of people, you tend to hide what you’re thinking or hide what you really feel.
When I went to the university, I was really aiming to make new friends. I didn’t know anyone, and I was
already overthinking how my day would go by, how I would respond to questions, how I would talk to
people without them feeling uncomfortable. It is really hard to get your courage up, especially when
you’re around a big pool of people. Shyness for me is a feeling, one that we have to overcome or else it
would get the best of us. It affects how we deal with other people, for example our classmates.
Whenever we talk to them inside the classroom, or whenever we get grouped with them in school
works or certain class activities. Shyness would stop us from delivering our thoughts to the person, it is
also one cause of miscommunication because it makes us feel like we don’t have the ability to talk to
people properly, or in a way that would make them feel comfortable with us.

In group interactions, whenever someone is shy, we could already notice it or see it in their
actions. For example, they tend to look down a lot, fidget when talking, look elsewhere when someone
is talking to them – they look very uncomfortable. It also makes them discouraged. Usually shy people
are those that are lonely, or those who don’t like being in a place with a large number of people. They
are those who wants to spend time with people who are close to them, or those who they know really
well. In my case, my shyness comes from standing in stages. You know that feeling you get of being
fidgety when you stand in a stage, then you see lots of people watching you? I don’t like that feeling. It
makes me stutter a lot and forget what speech I prepared or what presentation I would like to discuss. It
is something hard for me to overcome yet at that moment, I should. Breathing exercises helps a lot
when you are up there in the stage. Also knowing your audience well and focusing entirely on them and
on your presentation will make it better and more engaging. In short, there are many occurrences when
shyness would affect one’s ability to talk and one’s ability to engage with people, however this feeling is
just a feeling, one that we have to overcome slowly until we become better for ourselves.