I suppose there are different levels of shyness and be a little bit shy is not a big problema. However there are lot of people who suffer because they are shy and that stops them from doing a lot of things.

Behind shyness stay always fear. Fear of being yourself, fear of people, fear of doing things wrong, fear of life…  fear of everything. The question is what we can do aginst shyness?

Maybe there is only one thing and it's not easy at all. You have to accept this fear and just go ahead.

I usually become timid when I'm talking to elders like aunts, uncles, grandparents and grand aunts and grand uncles. Unlike my cousins who are confident and can assert themselves to older people, I usually clam up when older people argue with me because it's useless talking to the elders in my family since they're very narrow minded.

Another factor that contributed to my shyness was my upbringing. Typically, in Filipino families, the older person is the right one and you're not allowed to reason out or even disagree with elders in a polite manner. In other words, the culture here tells you to shut up because you are the younger one. I got used to being scolded by the elders in my family when I was young so I carried my low-self esteem with me as I got older 

My personality is totally different when I'm dealing with my peers 

Hi Zakariya,

Shy people and some of us value our self-esteem through the perspective of others rather than our own. The fear of denial from the social community and a few raised eyebrows make us anxious and it is partly because we feed them up

I become shy if suddenly I asked to go on the stage for public speaking without preparation. It'll make me overthink my behavior and responses to others. How about you?