Shyness is a strange thing. I was painfully shy as a child. My parents didn’t push me in any way, mostly because they didn’t come from a generation that spent time doing that kind of thing. I came from a family of five kids and mostly just played with my siblings, and eventually made a friend at school.

Yet, as an adult, I am not the least bit shy. I am very extroverted.

i have no idea what it is that caused me to stop being so shy. I mean, I can remember the feeling — i was terrified to speak aloud to people — but I don’t know why that went away.

I do agree with what you say about parenting — i think the tough part about raising kids is that we have to let them have disappointments or feel scared or make mistakes. We can’t protect them from everything.