For me, the turning point was taking a bunch of classes on public speaking.
Getting in front of people helped me develop “personas” in unimportant contexts.
Now when I feel like I’m being weird, I can choose to retreat into one of my public speaking personas. And I can sort of hide inside the persona until whatever is bothering me passes.
The net effect on my interaction with the opposite gender is that when things get awkward, I become a kind of well rehearsed bland likeable that puts people at ease.
Only the people closest to me know that it’s a mask I wear to cover my own confusion or discomfort. One of the people who knows is my life partner, but of course they like me anyway, now.
For me, the turning point was taking a bunch of classes on public speaking.
Getting in front of people helped me develop “personas” in unimportant contexts.
Now when I feel like I’m being weird, I can choose to retreat into one of my public speaking personas. And I can sort of hide inside the persona until whatever is bothering me passes.
The net effect on my interaction with the opposite gender is that when things get awkward, I become a kind of well rehearsed bland likeable that puts people at ease.
Only the people closest to me know that it’s a mask I wear to cover my own confusion or discomfort. One of the people who knows is my life partner, but of course they like me anyway, now.