I am what you’d describe as a shy guy, scared of talking to pretty girls.

Sounds innocuous, even charming. But here’s what’s wrong with that:

Shyness means I don’t want to talk to a pretty girl for fear of looking bad in front of her – I think I speak for nine out of ten guys who suffer from shyness (and in fact the Cantonese/Mandarin words for ‘shy’ are rendered 怕羞 and 害羞 respectively, both of which approximately mean ‘afraid of shame’) – but is this not simply pride and self-importance? Continue reading “on shyness” →