Social awkwardness is something that can plague us for the majority of our lives. And it can, to our perception, at least, affect our ability to be granted belonging. It can mean something different, and show up differently, for each one of us.
Being socially awkward...
Being socially awkward, to me, means that we aren’t always the best at communicating with others in social situations. We struggle to feel confident in speaking up, in sharing our thoughts and our interests. And it doesn’t always go well when we do get the courage to speak up.
The words that come out of our mouth may make sense to us in our brains. But to the group we’re trying to earn belonging to, they may not make sense at all. The words that we chose make us sound “stupid” or “out of touch” with those we’re trying to interact with. It seems like we don’t understand what we’re saying, with our words coming off as some form of innuendo when we don’t mean things that way, at all.
Socially awkward in school...
As this continues on throughout our school years, throughout our lives, we become terrified of talking in front of people, of putting ourselves out there. We’re afraid to say the wrong thing, to look like a fool.
We’re the proverbial quiet one in class, petrified of being called on, shaking to the core when you’re assigned to work in small groups or with a partner.
We’re terrified to put ourselves out there at work, to volunteer for projects or public speaking, for fear of looking like someone who has no idea what they’re doing, to our boss.
We struggle to connect with anyone. When we do, we’re often terrified to talk too much, in case we scare them away or embarrass them, anything to make them feel as though we’re just too plain weird to be around.
Know when you've buried your true identity...
Get the four steps to recognize and pinpoint when you’ve been morphing yourself to fit other’s expectations.
Overcoming these tendencies...
How can we overcome these fears, these tendencies? It takes courage, strength, and effort at changing our mindset. We need to work on our belief that we are worthy as we are. We need to learn that there truly are people in the world who are interested in listening to what we have to say. There are people who want to know us as our true selves.
Take a few minutes today to ponder on one or two ways that you can shift your mindset. How can you change your way of thinking to be more accepting of yourself, and more willing to put yourself out there?
And if you want to practice or share your thoughts or get advice on how you can work on shifting your mindset, pop into our community. Share your thoughts or fears, and let the fantastic women in our group share their advice and positive energy with you.
We’re here for you.
