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Billy1970 · 01-22-2007, 11:58 PM

For what it's worth, I was very shy as well when I started 'hitting the boards' in class. I'll only speak for myself here, but for me, I was afraid to be seen, I was afraid to be heard, and mostly I was afraid of looking foolish or being embarrassed.

And all that did was make it worse.

For me, that fear was simply my ego getting in the way. The thing that helped me the most (and only took me about a year and a half of training to understand) was when I realized that I really wasn't anything special. Seriously. It just kind of dawned on me one day that all that fear was about me trying to live up to an image of myself that wasn't necessarily based in reality.

I have to look cool.
I can't look stupid.
I can't make a mistake, because that means I'm not 'good'.
I don't want to be embarrassed.
And, I don't want anybody to REALLY see me, because deep down inside, maybe (just maybe) I really believe that I'm not that big of deal after all, which would be even MORE embarrassing if everyone knew.

Then I realized that, in truth, there was nothing even remotely remarkable about me. I saw that I had to work to get better at something that I wasn't very good at because I hadn't ever really worked at it before...if that makes any sense. That was when I really understood what everyone meant by 'leaving my ego at the door' and right after that, 'shy' went out the door right behind it.

Now, I'm not saying any of this is the case with you, I just hope my experience may be of some help. Whether or not anything I said is relevant, just know that no matter what, if you keep getting up there you will get more comfortable.

Good Luck and Keep At It!