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Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

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531–540 of 568 posts

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#531
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then college came around I read a lot of such posts by people before i went to university, and boy was i surprised to find the reality can sometimes be very different. If there's any younger folks reading this, YMMV. > Then, after college, I entered the working world This is where it actually gets better, or at least it did for me.

I agree with you. One of the reasons why I think this happened for me in college was because I found some very accepting groups of people with whom I could unite around a common goal, in an almost pre-professional environment. But there were a bunch of people on my floor freshman year who got sucked up into an entirely different social environment. They either pledged fraternities or sororities, or formed their own s…

> Try to find the ones that aren't 100% social, but maybe 25% social and 75% achieving some goal, whether it be putting on a musical or raising livestock or volunteering at a nursing home.

Or, you know, studying. Which is ostensibly the thing why you're there in the first place...

(Obviously university is also a great time to explore and experiment, and you should do that. But especially if you're in the hard sciences, surrounding yourself with people who actually want to learn will do wonders.)

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#532
post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You say this like McDonalds food isn't already habit forming I said this because McDonalds has already proven that they can do a lot of damage to people with just food.

Sounds like we should regulate food then maybe?

Food is regulated, so it doesn't seem you have much of a point?

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#533
post #373
post #346

These comments make me feel like I'm getting old, which is weird to me. There are so many proactive comments that remind me of my 18 year old self. Social awkwardness, for me and for a lot of people I know, sort of just vanished with age. - The same kind of weird, unexplainable, vicious attitude that passes for cool among teenagers and some early adults fades for most people. The people who still adhere to that code…

I was watching Euphoria these days, and reading your comment reminded me of a thought I had watching that. School is like prison. People are forced to spend most of their living hours with one another for long periods of time. So like in prison, weird social dynamic develops itself. Once you're out of prison, everything is much smoother. You can simply exit any toxic situations.

The prison as a distilled form of the structure of most social institutions is a big idea in the work put forward by Michel Foucault

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to help, but you actually supported my point. You learnt guitar because you wanted the good feeling of people joining in you, which is the feeling of admiration. You've supposedly been very successful and are caring of your friends, so I might be wrong of course. But it sounds like a case of socialmedia addiction along with incel-esk belief that if you matched a certain image, women would simply line up. You s…

> good feeling of people joining in you, which is the feeling of admiration. Well, look around you, everyone gets their minute on stage, my schoolmates literally were into acting and showing off all the time. Even the thief of the band is with a cute girl now lol. But about ego-fuelled passions: the more everyone has a skill at making something beautiful, the more fun are your parties, because they all add up. So, it…

There's a lot wrong with society, and the expectations that are put on men which are ultimately damaging isn't talked about enough. Broadly, I think there's a sense that men must "earn" their worth through achievements, i.e. you are not born with inherent 'worth'. This belief is inculcated into us at a young age, explicitly or otherwise, and constantly re-affirmed by our media and culture as a whole.

There are two ironies to this. The first irony is that no matter what some people do, they will not reap the 'rewards' that was promised to them. This becomes obviously true when we remember that we don't live in a just world, at all, of which this fantasy of cosmic justice relies on. The second irony is that this fantasy of cosmic justice is inherently damaging and perpetuates injustice. We need to drop the idea that good things follow good people.

In your case, you're seeing it play out in the dating world, where issues of loneliness and the natural, human desire for intimacy are dismissed as being superficial complaints from basement-dwelling "incels". I am sorry that you experience this. Moreover, there appears to be no correlation between passions for a number of hobbies and lifestyles with what people are ultimately attracted to. Personally, I think we should drop the whole idea that there's a list of things men need to do before women can find them attractive. The same goes for women.

I don't know you personally, and I think these kind of issues hit at the most vulnerable parts of people so I don't want to sway you with any specific ideas of my own. So the only advice I can offer is cautionary: be wary of adopting only a masochistic epistemology. It is tempting to see the world through the lens of "I will never be attractive to women, no matter what I do" and finding every example of this to reinforce it. Everyone who has experienced the darker depths of the human soul knows that there is a pleasure in believing that whatever hurts is true. This leads to a vicious cycle of thoughts. This pessimism must be tempered by an optimistic epistemology. What that bountiful optimism looks like to you, I don't know, but from my experience, it is a missing 'second half' to the world that I had to consciously find which brought a healing and resiliency that deepened my relationship with myself as well as others. Best of luck.

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for short guys. Apparently it's ok for women to put "swipe right if over 6ft" on dating apps. I doubt I'd get much success with "swipe right if over 36D and you can deep throat" I've noticed the best dancer in a club is a short guy. Tall guys can just coast, but a bit of time in the gym definitely helps.

As a tall guy, I've always assumed that there is a reason most good male dancers I can think of are average height or shorter. Tall people just don't have the right body proportions and/or fluidity of movement. There's just something that looks gangly and weird when tall guys are dancing. Maybe that's just what I tell myself to feel better.

Two of the best dancers on the planet are 6'4" twins that go by Les Twins.

I'd actually suggest it's easier to be a good dancer if you're tall and lanky because the movement of your limbs is more apparent.

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#537
post #522

One day I realized that the more smartphone usage and social media become mainstream and the main way people communicate nowadays, the more socially awkward and ADD the average person becomes. As a very awkward and ADD-ish person my whole life, I realized this gave me a huge advantage: people become more awkward while I stay about the same, and they don't even realize it's happening while I do. I quit social media a…

No offense but you seem to have a superiority complex around all this.

I'm not better than anyone, and in fact self-esteem issues are something I've had to deal with a lot in my life. As I've noticed people changing in this way I've actually become more empathetic since the more awkward I see people become the more I can relate.

I'm just speaking from personal experience about how my life improved, especially social relationships, when being mindful about all this. Other people make their own choices. But the way you use the internet definitely changes your brain and the way you approach social relationships.

Having strangers on the internet assume the worst in you when you're trying to talk about personal growth is an excellent way to feel inferior.

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it also apply to those with substance abuse problems? “Stop being an addiction.” It’s simple.

But I didn't say that, you said that and attributed it to me.

You disregarded the ignorance in ops comment which implies agreement.

Re: Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?

#540
I'm not going to say that it was a radical improvement, but following these two courses from the guild of the rose did help.

https://guildoftherose.org/courses/context-and-communication...

https://guildoftherose.org/courses/practical-social-networki...

The material is free online.

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