I used to be a shy little girl
when I was younger. This shyness just showed up when I was around older adults and boys. My childhood memory isn't worth recounting because of my shyness. Bullying and criticism were directed at me largely because of my behavior. I was regarded as a nerd with an antisocial personality. When my peers needed someone to ridicule, they will always catch me reading my novels in the school gardens. I was alone and unable to make and keep cool friends. As a result, I've always preferred to be in the company of girls and never attend an all-gender academy. Ironically, despite my initial shyness, I have grown to be a confident and social young lady after tackling my weaknesses. I considered my shyness as a hurdle and dedicated to overcoming it despite the mockery and constant ridicule. I was lucky to have attended an all-girls high school where I ultimately reinvented myself.
The society that helped me overcome my shyness
I currently love speaking and consider myself as a social person. In addition to that, I no longer fear boys, and that makes me beautiful around them. Thanks to my high school friend Winnie who introduced me to a school program that encouraged members to learn how to handle their social problems.
The impact of the society on my life
The program was more like a society and was formed by the school welfare. It was meant to help young girls with family and other social issues to speak out. The society had a patron who motivated the girls to understand that no problem was not worth sharing. My experience in the group made me realize that not only was I shy but also I was antisocial. My senior partner in the group took it upon herself to walk me through the steps out of my challenges. She seemed such a lovely lady to me. To my surprise, her motivations to join the society were similar to mine. She then offered herself always to help out other junior girls with the same challenge.
Overcoming my shyness through community volunteering
Among the various strategies, she used to me was to make me speak out my social life to her. This was an issue I have always held close to loneliness. This was because I had never found a friend worth opening up to. After listening to my problems, she came up with the idea that I enroll in community volunteering idea. With this new strategy, I was made to meet new people every day and talk to kids about various issues in the community. My volunteering to teach at a summer school and teaching at a nearby Sunday school made me overcome my fears. My shyness was met with the social young innocent kids who wanted to talk to me about high school. I was forced by the kids to formulate stories of how excellent high school was. I was made to talk about prom night and other imaginary stories young children are told about high school. With my new experience, I realized that I was not just shy by choice but by lack of opportunity.
Embracing my newfound confidence
When I came back to school, my confidence levels and society involvement had improved. I was livelier with talking and meeting up new friends. Gradually I grew to be the exclusive talkative lady I am today. One of the most important things I learned in the society is communication. I discovered to speak out my reasoning and my feelings. I also determined that problem once shared is half solved. With that in mind, perhaps the talkative and social person I am today is a compensation of the shyness I had before. Now with who I am, I am motivated to be a light and source of motivation to young girls with the same problem I had five years ago.
