When I started out overcoming my shyness and social anxiety years ago…meetinggoodpeople

..it was really tough.

But I was extremely COMMITTED because I already had been fighting social anxiety for years without even knowing it (the social anxiety part at least.)

It was a RELIEF to find out that something called social anxiety had been identified.

I remember the day I read the description of what someone with social anxiety felt and thought like.

CHILLS went up and down my spine and I thought

“OMG – that’s me!”

Someone FINALLY understood.

So when I started on the path, I was 35 years old.

(I’m 40 now.)

I was in my old town where I grew up and no one was really left to hang out with when I moved back.

(I had to go back because my mom was really sick with a neurological disease, she passed away 9 months later.)

I had to start from SCRATCH.

I had to meet people and make new friends.

I felt like a stranger in my hometown.

But you see, I really wanted to test this stuff and after my first major social confidence crossover.

So I went to networking meetings which was fairly easy because people are looking to meet other people already (HINT).

It was a great place to practice social skills where people tend to be warmer.

Then I started going to bars and some clubs by myself.

That was freakin’ WAY HARD in comparison.

People aren’t always so friendly depending on the environment, so it’s a great place to test and upgrade confidence levels.

(Now I can do it with ease, even though it’s still not my favorite and I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea here either.)

There were nights I’d go out, walk towards the bar entrance, and it was like there was an invisible force-field in front of me.

And I’d go straight home.

That happened MANY times.

Sometimes with going to coffee houses, too.

In time, it got better and better.

Because I tried out new things, both inside and out with both my confidence and in practicing my social abilities.

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