Highly sensitive people are usually considered shy. And all my life I considered myself like that (of course, with a minus sign). In general, when you often repeat this word, its etymology becomes interesting (I didn’t like this consonance with “dungeons”). I opened Wikipedia and read: “Doctors also attribute shyness to the symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning - mercurialism.” I remembered how I broke a thermometer as a child. Mercury, of course. Scared, she smiled. Anxiety is there, it will always explain everything. And “shy”, according to Dahl, from the verb “to cover up” - “a hunter to be shy, not to show himself; uninhibited, timid; timid and overly conscientious or bashful; unaccustomed to people, timid and silent.” In fact, there are many approaches to the definition and origin of shyness, but it is important for us to differentiate this concept from high sensitivity. If you perceive shyness as your characteristic trait, you can fall into the trap of a label. And it always works flawlessly: no matter how much discomfort and awkwardness you experience in society, it can always be called shyness. And then this name begins to control your life: “I won’t go to an interview/visit/on a date, because I’m shy.” We must remember that any social situation (and shyness is most often manifested in them) promises a meeting with a large number of external stimuli: with other people and their moods, noise around, a new environment, bright or flashing lights. HSPs are sensitive to these impulses, so there may be a general feeling of overwhelm and agitation inside. This can be considered as a fear of social contact. And if you feel increased anxiety from time to time in social situations, it is of course easy to build a cause-and-effect relationship, where point A is communication with other people, and point B is the conviction of one’s shyness and asociality. But what if sensitivity is taken as the starting point? What if the stiffness that arises is a reaction to stimuli that your psyche is forced to process? Then shyness, like some kind of insurmountable obstacle, disappears from sight. There is more acceptance and understanding: anxiety is not always caused by fear of society, the discomfort felt is not eternal shyness, but a temporary phenomenon. This means there is always a choice of how to deal with it..