Shyness impacts nearly every single person in the world and half of the world's population describe themselves as being shy, and between seventy-five and ninety-five percent of people have experienced shyness at some point in their lives. (Carducci 4). Many people think that it is not a serious matter but I think otherwise. My topic for this essay is about shyness and my research question for this essay is "How does shyness affect a person's identity development"? I have chosen this topic because I was a very shy person growing up. When I was a kid I hardly talked to anyone and was not very happy because I did not have a lot of friends, because of my shyness. I want to show my readers that shyness is a serious matter and that people who are not shy are more successful in life. People who are shy are usually sad and are more prone to depression than people who are not. I want people to know that shyness does nothing positive for them and that in order to really be happy and live a fulfilling life you must have meaningful connections with people. Shyness is an important topic in interpersonal communication because when someone is shy they can not effectively communicate with other people. Shyness also prevents people from developing healthy relationships with others. Things I will discuss in this essay are what causes shyness, how shyness can have a negative impact on someone's life and what a person who has shyness can do to overcome it.
People have many theories on how to define shyness but no one actually knows what shyness is. The most common belief is that shyness is when someone experiences discomforting behavior that occurs in the presence of other people. (Carducci 5) Most people have experienced shyness at least one time in their lives whether it would be during your first day at school, when asking a girl out on a date for the first time, or being nervous when you give a class presentation.