Getting Me Out of My Shell

People have tried all kinds of horrifying things to 'get me out of my shell.' They notice this skittish nature I have and they think, Well, I'll cure him of that!

These efforts have neither been complete failures nor complete successes. I have at least learned the ways in which people will 'test' ya...'challenge' ya...toughen ya up. I've learned to recognize when an attempt like this is being made. And it shows that these people care. They try a while and then give up...or I give up...or I meet the minimum threshold of courage required for...whatever the situation is...I learn a little, I guess.

I've made my own efforts at getting out of this shell...gone up on the microphone in spoken word events or poetry readings...blurted out odd sentence fragments in meetings at work...I've stammered through and been somewhat functional.

I just turned forty-one...and I'm still trying to conquer this...whatever it is...social anxiety or whatever.