Are you a shy speaker?

If you said yes, this could mean a couple different things. You could be afraid of speaking in front of a crowd, speaking to new people, or just speaking to unfamiliar people from anywhere and of any age. Maybe you’re not really afraid of talking, but a lot of people think you are.

You could be the type of person who isn’t afraid of speaking, but people think you are. Many times, students are quiet because they want to be. Not because they are scared or don’t have anything to say, but because they don’t want to want to be embarrassed.

The first thing that comes to the mind of a lot of people when they hear the word “shy” may be the term “nerd.” If you’ve ever been called a nerd before, then people probably think of you as smart, but it’s far more than that. If you for any reason take offense to being called a nerd, think of this sentence: “The nerds are the ones who end up with well-paying jobs because of their level of knowledge.”

Back to the main topic, you may be the type of person that is really smart, but is afraid to show it. What I mean by this is that you may have most of the correct answers on a page, but when you’re suddenly called up in class to share your answer, you are overflowed with anxiety and accidentally give the wrong answer. Sometimes, some people may call you out for this. They may call you out for getting such an easy question wrong, even though you have the right answer on your page. When you give the wrong answer out loud, but have the right one on your page, this may be a sign that you may have stage-fright. You could be afraid to say the wrong thing and end up embarrassing yourself in front of your peers.

And this brings me to another topic. You may be the type of person who is a well and fluent speaker, but when speaking to or in front of certain people, you get nervous and mess up. Maybe this could tie into having stage fright, or you being afraid of public speaking. A common thought is most thought of by students especially those in middle school and high school. This thought may be more commonly thought of by students in middle school and high school because they think about stuff like this more often than elementary school kids. What is this thought, you ask? Well, the common thought in which I speak of is when you may think of your crush, or somebody you like. When speaking to somebody you have a crush on, you may stumble with your words, or you may not speak very much. This may be because you are not too sure of what to say to them, or you are worried about embarrassing yourself. Just in case you may be this type of person, think of these sentences: “You can’t be embarrassed by who you are. Speak the truth, tell them about yourself. If they don’t like you for who you are, move on. They may laugh at you to make it seem like you’ve embarrassed yourself, but really, you’re brave for doing what you’ve done. Just gaining the courage to speak to somebody you like and telling them personal or semi-personal stuff about yourself shows that you are brave.” Now, thinking about these sentences, go and do as they say. Maybe not straight away, but when you feel you are ready. Don’t be afraid to go out and speak to somebody just because you think you’ll embarrass yourself, because you won’t.

You may also be another type of person, who is afraid of meeting new people. You may be afraid of meeting new people because you’re afraid of making a fool of yourself in front of them. If you are wanting to make a new friend, just go up to them and say hi, then just introduce yourself a little bit. If you think you’d want to, just flat out ask them if they want to be friends. Eventually, if you do this, you’ll end up making at least one friend. And if not, it’s fine, you’ll find a friend someday.

You may also be the type of person similar to the one mentioned in the last paragraph. You may be mutual friends with somebody, but you haven’t really asked them about whether or not you guys are actually friends. You may talk to the person at some times, but are too afraid to go up and start a conversation with them yourself. You two may know a few small things about each other, but that would be it. Go up and talk to the person, and get a good conversation started with them. Maybe, you could try asking them some questions about themselves, and you could answer those same questions to give them your response to the same thing. Like, you could simply ask, “What is your favorite color?” They may respond with theirs, and right after, you could tell them your response. You could think of any question and use this way of conversing with them. And eventually, you two may become better of friends with each other.

And a final topic I’ll speak of is another type of person you may be. You may be the type of person who is shy, but okay at speaking to some newer people. But, you may be shy to go up and actually speak to the person because you don’t know what to talk about or what to ask them. And for this, I’ll give a few questions you could use to start a conversation with somebody:

“What is your favorite color, and why?”

“What are some your favorite hobbies, and what do you like so much about them?”

“If you were only able to bring three items or people to a deserted island, what or who would they be?”

“If you had to choose to live without one of your five senses, which would you choose to give up?”

“If you could have any one superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?”

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

“If your house was burning and you were only given the ability to save one item, what would it be and why?”

“If you could have dinner with one person, living or dead, who would it be and why?”

“If your friend asked you to lie for them and you knew you would get in trouble, would you go and do it?”

“Would you rather be smart and ugly, or dumb and good looking?”

“What food would you absolutely not, under any circumstances, eat?”

“If you could change your first name, what would you change it to?”

“How do you relieve stress?”

“What do you fear about getting older?”

“What do you wish to be when you go to choose a life-long career?”

“If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be?”

“When do you allow somebody to get a second chance?”

Well, these are just some questions you could use to start or continue a conversation with somebody. But, that’s all I have to say about this topic for now, so I hope you found this as useful. Just know, if you’re shy, try not to be. It may take some time, and it may be hard, but it’ll all be alright in the end of it.