Shy

It's funny, sometimes, how you might think of yourself as one thing, and then all of a sudden you come to realize it's not accurate.

For forever, I thought I was shy. I've recently come to terms with the fact that, well, I'm not. Not really, at least. Sure, I might be a bit shy around new people, and I don't like going to large parties where I don't know anyone except the host, but I would venture to guess that nearly everyone has felt that, at least to some degree.

This realization dawned about a month ago, when I was in Brussels. In the Brussels office, normally, everyone eats lunch together in the kitchen. One day, I asked Ana if she was going up, and she said she had plans to meet a friend. So I said, "Oh, OK, maybe I'll just eat at my desk then." And Ana replied, "What, now all of a sudden you're SHY?!"

And I got all defensive. Me, shy? No! Of course not! Of course I can go meet other people in the kitchen without Ana. Off I went, and I had a very nice time that day, if I am remembering correctly.

I've been thinking about this since then. Ana, who met me in March, never thought of me as shy, obviously. I do things (and pretty much always have) that I think a truly shy person would never do, like knocking on a neighbor's door to introduce myself and ask them if they want to hang out. I did this fairly recently, like a year ago, when my neighbor Hugh first moved in, and now we're good friends. I also did this when I was 11, and my sister came home from riding her bike to tell me another family on the street also had an 11 year old girl. That girl is my friend Jayne, who just came to visit me in Brussels on my last trip.

So. I am officially renouncing the shy adjective I've given myself. You heard it here first.