Overcoming Shyness Part 5: Practice in a Safe Environment.
Practice. Practice. Practice. The more you practice the quicker you will feel comfortable in different social situations.
Once you have established your goal and the manageable steps. Start with your first step and practice, practice, practice. Keep practicing each step until it gets boring. Once it becomes boring and no big deal, then it is time to move to the next step.
The best place to practice is in safe environments. This will help build your confidence and help you feel more familiar and comfortable with a variety of social settings.
For example if is your goal is to feel comfortable asking for help, one step might be asking strangers for the time. The first couple of times won’t be easy and you will need to push yourself, then it will start to feel easier and easier, until it is so easy it’s boring.
TIP: I have found shopping is perfect for practicing in a safe environment. Store sales people can help you practice small talk. You can go into a store and ask where an item is, for information on an item, advice on what item to buy. Now before you start to wonder how much this is going to cost, remember this is just practice and you don’t need to buy anything. If you have asked about a computer and now want to leave, I have found is good to say you will think about it and then ask what time they closed. After they answer you can thank them and leave.
