“Hey, how are you?” she might ask. "Hey, I'm doing well. My name is Philip,” I will go on to respond. That’s not what I really want to say. What I really want to say is that she is so beautiful, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. I go ahead and ask for her name, to which she will answer with something beautiful like Emma, Ellie, or Megan. She goes, “It’s nice to meet you. What are you majoring in?” I’ll say, “Mass communications. What about you?” She will say something like nursing, engineering, something that makes her sound incredibly smart. I will say, “Oh that’s cool.” She might chuckle a little or just stay completely silent. The small laugh always helps so that there isn’t complete awkward silence. She might ask what year I am in or what I plan on doing after graduation, to which I will go on and happily answer, saying I’m a junior.

Now, it is my turn to ask her something else. CRAP! What do I ask her? What is her major? No, stupid, I already asked her that. What is her name? No! You already asked her that too! What is her favorite color? No, that’s how you immediately get rejected. Please…what do I say?!

A long, long time ago (well, actually not that long ago, maybe during high school...actually, present day if you want me to be completely honest) I was shy. Oh my gosh, I was so shy. Nope, that is false. I am shy, not "was shy." I'm currently a junior in college, and I am shy. The problem with my shyness is that when it is really noticeable is when I am looking into the eyes of one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. Oh, and there are plenty of those around. It’s “love at first sight” that immediately makes me extremely shy. Like when you try to pet a turtle on the head, and it quickly tucks its head back into his shell. It's the second that a gorgeous girl turns her head to look at me, flips her silky smooth hair about, looks me in the eye, and opens her mouth to speak. CRAP. What…do…I…do? Maybe she is not speaking to me, but the person next to me. Perhaps she mistakes me for a mirror and she is using the reflection to check out her gorgeous self. Yeah, that’s got to be it. She can’t actually see me. Or, can she see me?

The truth is, I am shy. I will tell you straight up that being shy is always something about myself that I have been completely ashamed of. Being shy is always something I wish I could take, throw out the door, and lock it out forever. Being shy is something I always wish I could magically get rid of with a spell. You want to know the real truth? Being shy is one of the biggest aspects about me that has made me ashamed of myself my whole life. My shyness is powerful, almost too powerful. It has become so powerful to the point where I never actually believe that there is a single girl out there who thinks I am good looking, or thinks that I have an amazing personality, or let alone a girl that wants to date me. I go on a day to day basis, where I am constantly surrounding myself with more and more people, including women, beautiful women. Oh, and some of these women are just absolutely stunning.

Many of us are so inclined to believe that when we go on a day to day basis, catching a glimpse of others who we think are just astounding, with their gorgeous hair, lovely eyes, and their jaw dropping smile, we immediately assume that they are out of our league. Throughout my life, I have believed that so many of these beautiful girls I have seen or met have been out of my league. The second that I think of them as being beautiful, they are immediately out of my league, because my mind is telling me that there is no way I would ever have a chance at dating a girl like that. There is no way on Earth I would ever have a chance at holding that girl’s hand because everything about her, that long hair, her smile, those eyes, are all just perfect.

The truth is, I may always and forever be shy. It is not something that I really should feel ashamed of as much as I am, nor should I even consider it as a negative thing. Although, I have come to a conclusion about what my shyness really brings to my life. I have come to believe that there is really no such thing as leagues or being out of one’s league. There really is no such thing as someone being too good for you. In fact, all of that has served merely as excuses for one’s shyness. Many of us shy people hate to admit that we are shy, so we are quick to come up with a reason for why we choose not to walk up to that girl or boy in the Starbucks line and start a conversation. We come up with an alternative reason for why we choose not to sit next to that girl or boy in class. We most certainly do not want to believe that our shyness is the reason. We would rather believe that it is because they might already have a boyfriend or girlfriend, or that they are too good for us in that they are smarter or more popular. We would rather assume that it is because they are out of our league.

The truth is, there is no such thing. The only thing that could possibly be holding us back is the fear of what may happen if we do talk to him or her. They might laugh at us, slap us, walk out on us, ignore us, completely humiliate us, all of which are phobias that make up the personality trait of being shy in this case. It is kind of like one's fear of riding roller coasters. He or she may notice the long line and immediately use that as an excuse to not go on the ride because he/she supposedly does not want to wait that long in line. No one would want to admit that they are afraid of riding a roller coaster. Throughout my life, I have always given myself a reason as to why I don't go up to that girl and just talk to her, while every single time I have always known that the real reason has been because I was shy, because I was afraid. It is shyness that has been holding me back all this time, not where society supposedly ranks me and that girl among leagues. There are no rankings or leagues, there is only you and her.