I must admit that I needed to do a little research on the topic at hand. I had my own thoughts on what separated a shy person from a socially anxious person. To me “shyness” was felt in the gut, to quote a cliche “butterflies in the stomach”. A shy person may feel uncomfortable or nervous in social situations but they can face the situation and often times start to feel comfortable over time. For me “social anxiety” has always been felt in my head in addition to the “butterflies” a shy person feels. I always thought of it as “brain freeze”, not like what you get when you eat ice cream too fast. In this case the brain freezes because there is so much the brain is trying to process that one can’t think straight.
“Bill your heart rate has increased, your breathing is becoming faster and shallower, and you’re starting to shake. Pull it together you don’t want to look scared because someone might approach you and ask you what is wrong. How would you answer that, tell them you are scared? That would make you look stupid. Don’t look too confident and self-assured either because people will see that as an invitation to talk to you. Don’t look too nonchalant either because people will think that you are stuck up or rude. By the way do you know what the weather is like? What if someone tries to make small talk with
