Are you shy? In college, I tried out for an a cappella group and felt so painfully shy about singing aloud that I turned my back to the group and auditioned to a blank wall. (I didn’t make it, ha.)

I’m not so shy anymore, but I’m surprised when I hear about successful big wigs who are. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, admits she always wants to leave within the first 15 minutes of any party. To help her deal, she says, “I will literally look at my watch and say, ‘You can’t leave until time x. And if you’re still having a terrible time at time x, you can leave.'” When the time’s up, she usually overcomes her social anxiety and ends up having fun.

That’s a good rule to follow when doing anything that pushes you outside your comfort zone, don’t you think? What, if anything, makes you feel shy?

p.s. The inspiration behind the revolving door was the inventor’s social phobia of opening doors for women.
p.p.s. I didn’t know returning items to a store is a common cause of social anxiety—I totally get oddly anxious over that!

(bottom photo via CityGirl Searching)