On shyness

[lirion]

Been meaning to post about this for awhile now:

From a post by drjon:

"If someone who appears to you to be outgoing, tells you that they are shy, believe them. What you are seeing is their performance face, their coping mechanisms. It may come over as arrogance, be expressed as sarcasm, be over ebullient, or talking too much. It may exhaust them so much that they can't think too straight about the reality of a situation while they are 'performing'. It may not be a good coping mechanism. But it is not proof that they have lied about their shyness."

Just because a lot of people don't see it - I'm good at hiding in plain sight or something - doesn't mean it's not there. However I've finally come to understand that how I feel inside doesn't necessarily reflect in my outward interactions.
Still, this statement resonates.

Comments

[geekweevil.livejournal.com]

I totally get that!
:)

[usekh.livejournal.com]

Me to a tee

[travisjhall.livejournal.com]

It is actually quite common for introverts to be mistaken for extroverts. Being introverted means having to develop techniques to cope with people, and some people learn to do this very well. So, sometimes people skills are the result of introversion, not extroversion.

I've been told many times that I'm an extrovert, which is very far from the truth.

[emilyjane.livejournal.com]

Oh hells yes. The worst part of my shyness, I think, is that it translates sometimes as a kind of stern aloofness. Which isn't at all what I want to convey, it's just me trying to keep together and not say/do something foolish. Then I get to know someone properly, and feel free to be as foolish as I wish. The mind is its own place... ;)

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

My husband is like that. Or was; eight years around me has cured him of much of his inner shyness, not least because he lives with a superior being who makes a point of cherishing him and praising him :-) People are often surprised because he's outgoing, personable and good at people-management (and cat-herding), but those are all coping strategies he taught himself.

I wear public masks (of course I do - forty years as an entertainer, duh), but they aren't for protecting myself from the world, they're for keeping myself apart from all but those who pass the Good Enough for My Gang audition. No surprise there, what with the sociopathy and the INTJ an' a' tha'...

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

'k, I just went and read the original post, or at least, the post you quoted from, and am blinking lots: And finally: there is a hierarchy in inter-actions which means someone who is well known to a group is facing a room full of strangers. You may see them as a celebrity. They see themselves as someone desperate for a familiar face. I have lost count of the number of 'arrogant' authors, editors and academics I have come across who turn out to be really lovely people when not surrounded by thirty people they have never met before.

Um, I can't speak for all others by any means, but I always viewed those thirty - or 300, or 3,000, etc. - people-I'd-never-met-before as either potential acolytes, cattle to be manipulated, or both.

Mind you, putting me in front of a room of exclusively female strangers would jam my circuits a bit. Women en masse are for the most part odd, empty creatures. And they smell funny. Ew.

[persephone-20.livejournal.com]

Yup. This one fits me too.

[goratrixx.livejournal.com]

I think social confidence often get confused with introversion/extroversion. Introversion isn't about whether or not you are a shy person, though shyness is often a function of introversion. Introversion or extroversion are based on levels of cortical arousal in the brain. Introverts tend to have a high level of resting arousal so are easily overwhelmed by loud noises, new situations and sudden movements, which tends to make them a bit more retiring but not necessarily inherently "shy". However extroverts don't have a lot of resting arousal so usually seek stimulation from their environment, often through outgoing behaviour.

[chaos-crafter.livejournal.com]

So which would you guess of me? I don't know if I come across as introverted or not.

[darclady.livejournal.com]

'It may come over as arrogance, be expressed as sarcasm, be over ebullient, or talking too much. It may exhaust them so much that they can't think too straight about the reality of a situation while they are 'performing'. It may not be a good coping mechanism.'

ME!

*is exhausted* thanks for posting this. You are ace. *hugs*

[lordstorm.livejournal.com]

Hear hear. I've been doing the same for years.