Perceptions of Shy People

Notes how other people might perceive a shy person.


From: jlee <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: How others perceive shys was Re: Words from a psychologist
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 01:23:35 -0800
Newsgroups: alt.support.shyness
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: none



wombn wrote:

> At my last job, several people recently (well, this spring anyway)
> mentioned that they thought I was the calmest, most poised, and friendliest
> person in my department!!!!!
>
> My department knew, OTOH, that calm exterior was actually an indication of
> complete panic....
>
> People have called me everything: stubborn, a pushover, opinionated,
> inflexible, too willing to compromise too much, too-giving, selfish,
> poised, calm as the sea, too emotional, too angry, too sensitive, too
> quiet, too talkative, secretive, wear my emotions on my sleeve, hard to get
> to know, tell too much about my personal life, uncaring, too ready to help
> everyone else, too dependent, too independent....
>
> sheesh.


A pretty typical misguided description of the shy woman who is vastly
intelligent (with a large capacity for critical, analytical thinking and
intuitive extrapolative abilities), compassionate, deep, compelling yet
mysterious, and just too damn much for most people to figure out. I've
suffered these same contradictory labels most of my life and along with
Mike (Benedict) in his post "uplifting thought for the day" I think people
are labeling with negatives that which is positive about us but just too
darn hard for the average Joe or Joan to comprehend!

"that which does not kill me makes me stronger"
(strains of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" in the background)

Jenny


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