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Covid-19: The Rise of the Shy People
Shy people know the irony of all this mask wearing.
After years of being told to come out of our shell, we finally feel comfortable.
“Take off that mask!” “Stop hiding.” “What are you hiding from?” “Why can’t we move up to the front?” Sound familiar? It does to shy people. Others think they know what shyness is. They think it’s a choice Shy People are making. Like going on and off a diet or something.
They are wrong. Non-Shy people don’t get what it feels like when Shyness is part of who you are. Think of it as the opposite of being an outgoing person. Everyone gets that. Outgoing people are praised for this positive quality. Shy folks are constantly told to change.
We can’t choose not to be Shy People. It’s who we are. I know that shyness is in my DNA, because as a little girl, I used to hide behind my Mother when adults tried to get a look at me. “Let me see that pretty little face,” they’d say, bending their big adult heads down to my level. Behind Mom’s legs I’d go.
“She’s shy,” my Mom explained. It’s even in her cursive handwriting in my Baby Book! “Diane is shy and likes to hide behind me.”
See what I’m saying? Even as a child who had no concept of the word shy, I was labeled shy by my own Mom so adults wouldn’t…
