I thought I was just shy for years and years, no really I did. I never thought that feeling uncomfortable in new social situations was any more than that I would get tense and start to feel agitated every time I had to meet new people. Later on when I got married, yes I actually met someone who understood, it was quite daunting when my wife would return from work stating that so and so had invited us around to have dinner with them. God, it was all very horrible. I was a nurse for many years and never felt this way when I was working, strange though that must sound. However eventually I started training as a counselor and therapist and had to undergo some therapy sessions myself. I finally decided to face up to this issue and revealed it to my therapist who was extremely understanding and told me it was much more common than you might think. In fact meeting new people is actually just behind fear of public speaking as a concern for many.
Eventually we utilized some techniques that to my surprise actually took the nervousness away, I mean completely. For the first time in years I felt free to
be myself and let go and be much more amenable in social situations. What were those methods some of you well may ask. Lets have a look.
Some years ago a new psychological technique emerged called Thought Field Therapy, it was created bu a clinical psychologist, Roger Callahan.
His new technique involved tapping with your fingers on certain acupuncture or energy points and doing a particular sequence whilst thinking of the issue that is unresolved. Imagine the surprise of the majority of people when deepest seated phobias, fears, anxieties of all kinds and even long term post-traumatic stress disorder vanish, and im not joking here or hyping this up. A friend of mine had terrible stage fright (similar to public speaking fear I guess) and he tried this method and in three rounds of tapping his stage fright left town and hasn’t returned. It is now being researched within psychological circles and of course the initial reaction of the psychological and psychiatric community was disbelief.
However, it does remind me of Francine Shapiros EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) technique which when it first became accessible to the public was scoffed at by the medical establishment worldwide. Now though it has had some very good research which shows that it is slightly better than traditional cognitive-behavioral treatment and is faster and more cost effective as a modality.
So if you want to try something new look up Thought Field Therapy or Emotional Freedom Technique which some practitioners use. instead. Look it never hurts to try something new, look it up on google to see if there is a practitioner near you, it might just work wonders for you, it did for me.