Growing up, I was extremely shy and known for being extremely shy and I just kind of accepted it and honestly, I think everyone else did too. A lot of the times growing up, I would have my parents and friends order food for me or buy items for me, that is how shy I was growing up. Although I am still decently shy, I think college has done a great job at bringing me out of my shell, whether I liked it or not.
Being in high school, the teachers always tried to get me to participate but honestly, I don’t think they were very successful at all, besides calling on me at random times to see if I was paying attention (I usually wasn’t, sorry mom!). After a while, I feel like all my teachers just assumed that it was a lost cause, but the lucky teachers got to see me as a more participative student, but only the lucky ones! All my teachers, for the most part, were great but most of them never really understood that I couldn’t just turn the shyness off. Most my high school career was keeping to myself through various classes and activities. Of course, with my friends it was different, but high school was full of just wanting to get through classes without having to say anything. I loved most of my high school career and sometimes find myself missing those days, but those days were often filled with anxiety due to being afraid of having to speak to teachers or during classes and that is not how I wanted to spend my days.
Four years later and I am finally attending the college of my absolute dreams and I love it. The best part is that during large lecture classes, I literally never have to speak aloud in front of the class or rarely talk to other students if I don’t want to, but I sadly do have some smaller classes where, like high school, participation is a requirement to receive points for the day. My first semester here at K-State, I noticed that most teachers never really cared if you looked attentive and took notes when needed, but sometimes those smaller classes feel like a high school class due to the size and the demand for participation. Although there is usually a high demand for that participation, a lot of those smaller classes do group work and activities, so being in groups has helped with wanting to participate and overcome any shyness that I have. The class that has helped the absolutely most with overcoming my shyness has surprisingly been my Spanish 1 class. Although this class is decently difficult and at a quick pace, I find myself answering questions and participating much more than I would during in high school or in any of my other classes here at K-State. It is also nice because a lot of my teachers make us do an assignment relating to our strengths and weaknesses, just something to get to know us a little better, and being able to communicate with my teachers and saying that I am usually a very shy and timid person has been super helpful and most of my teachers are really understanding about that so I believe that has helped a lot with wanting to participate in class and helping me become not as shy.
Overall, I truly believe that being here at college has helped me overcome most of my shyness. Being at college, my parents aren’t here to do things for me so of course, I am forced to do them on my own but this has helped me branch out to meet new adults willing to help me get the best education possible, such as getting in contact with tutors and being in contact with my teachers or other adults. Although needing to get in contact with teachers or adults usually causes some extreme anxiety, after doing it, I always feel ten times better. Along with having to get things done by myself, comes with a lot of alone time. The first few months of college, I thought it would be the worst thing in the world to eat alone in the resident’s hall, but after finally doing it, it was not bad at all and I actually learned to kind of love it. After going to the Derb and eating by myself, I found myself also going to work out by myself and not feeling weird or nervous about it. So, not only has college helped me get over my shyness but has also helped with being more independent. With everyone having different schedules going on, it is hard to rely on friends to always be there to do something with you, so being able to do things on your own is extremely important and being at college, I have learned that being independent is a good thing and also has helped with my shyness as well and it is nice not to be raging with anxiety every time that I have to talk to someone that I don’t know. College has helped me grow into a completely different person but in a good way and that is how I went from being very shy to less shy. Still shy, just less shy!
