Friends-in-progress

It is important to love "yourself" first and then you can go out and communicate with others. It helps to check out bulletin boards for TGIF's or parties in general. If you go to one, do NOT drink anything. You don't need to get wasted to appeal to others. Just be yourself, and be happy in who you are, and content with your beliefs. Always be open to others. Show an interest in their "pet-interests" and if you must, research them afterwards to find out all about the things that appeal to this person. Eventually you'll recognize people from the beginning and be able to peg their personality with one or two questions. Getting comfortable around other people takes time. Keep up with trends in the news and be able to give your views on "The War", the uprisings in Egypt, and so on. Look for "likenesses" in others. Find people who adhere to your beliefs. What are your fave sports? Go to where you would normally play these sports and loook round for someone who needs a partner (as in tennis foursomes) What kind of relationship do you seek? G*y? Straight? R U looking for a girlfriend or a boyfriend? Being gay opens up more avenues. You can put the local gay bar on your list of places to "Pass frequently during the day" and if someone cute is hanging out you can always stop to check to make sure that your backpack is firmly attached, or some such thing. Gay Teen Alliance (GTA.org) may still be around too and might provide local meeting spots. I was a total introvert when I was your age too but by college I was checking out the world and seeing what looked good to me. If you want, feel free to email more info to me, or post it here, and I'll check it out and see if it reminds me of my earlier years and how I dealt with it. :-) Dart

I am like you. I am extremely quiet IRL. I stay quiet in class and hardly speak as well. I won't tell you to change, seeing that you want to have friends is enough. I'd tell you though to be yourself because if you want people to love you for who you are, then you'd have to be that person first. I may not have many friends but i am quite sure that everyone who is close to me are people who are worthwhile and who accept me even though I'm like this. :) I'm 20 now, but I'm still in society, if you want society to accept you, you have to accept yourself too. :)

Hi Winston. First, introversion is not bad. Some of my classmates are introverted and they are totally fine with me. Although they only have little friends, at least they stick to whoever they are comfortable with. I think you should do the same, stick to those people you are always with, and see hoe your friendship with them will grow.

You will last in the society even if you are an introvert, however you will have very few friends. Now, I am so glad that you open this up which means that you are willing to conquer your fears. Fear of being an introvert. It is in your mind, so when you think you want to say something, you have to condition your mind and yourself that you are going to say something. you can do it Winston. welcome to mylot