Well, were you a shy youth? I was quite the opposite, being outgoing and bristling with bold self-confidence. Being a very tall muscular male helped me in this and it also won many a fair maiden for me, in that what they saw was what they got and without any pretense. As I aged becoming a married man and from around late 20’s into my 30’s, my outgoing persona changed to become more sedate and somewhat an establishment type of person demanded of a Crown Employee. It was either change or cease climbing the employment ladder as advised by my careers officer.
Incidentally, the idea of this topic was planted into my mind by another member in here, so hence my question, shy or bold!
I was very shy as a child and teenager, found it difficult to make friends and always stayed in the background. I was fortunate enough to marry a gregarious outgoing man and so enjoyed a great social life with him. However, when he died I reverted back to my old shy self - those who we had socialised with were no longer interested in being friends with this shy person who rarely went anywhere.
I have now realised the world isn’t going to come knocking on my door and am making myself go out and join clubs etc. The hardest thing is walking alone into a strange place full of people you don’t know. People think I am confident because I make myself talk to people, but it is all an act and I am basically still that shy teenager!
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As a young child under the care of my paternal grandparents, I was not so much shy as very cautious due to being labeled the “filthy stinking Yid” by outsiders. This changed when I was sent to boarding school and also grew in height and musculature. It was in that school that I adopted a new self-assurance and complete confidence in myself, instilled into me by all of the teaching staff, for which I remain eternally grateful.
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They were not, I suspect, true friends and should be ashamed of themselves for not putting themselves in your path and going the extra mile by picking you up and taking you with them in their ventures. True friends do not abandon someone suddenly bereaved, no matter how much that person tries to resist joining them. Persistence usually pays dividends even with shy people and I wish I had met you personally at that sad time, then things might have been different.
At least now you do talk and mix with people, even if you are still that shy teenager inside and I am pleased for you 
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I was a very shy child / teenager . I have always enjoyed the company of animals rather than people .
I am still that person and really struggle to socialise.
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Thinking back, I think they were more friends with my husband than me - as I said he was very gregarious and outgoing, if you walked into a pub and there was a group of people in the corner laughing, he would be the one in the middle cracking all the jokes! Yes I think it would have been advantageous for me if they had made the effort to include me but that is now in the past and I am looking at a brighter future.
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Shyness and self confidence issues display the same although they are different, if someone has good acting skills at an early age, and has these tendencies below the surface, they should be able to “Bluff it” Ok, if they don’t have that skill set, they will probably struggle.
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I think I was popular with school mates and others, but my parents were very strict and because of that I must have come across as shy. I was wary of that generation, there was no interesting conversation to be had with any any of them. One of my father’s favourite sayings was “children should be seen and not heard”. I left home asap. My father, stepmother and two half sisters went to Australia soon after that, I was 19. I was a perfectly sociable young man until settling down in my mid 30s.
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Judging by some of people out there, I do understand why you prefer animals to people. Animal do not judge and they either like you or are wary of you, to take their time before they accept you. At a guess, you would be very welcome helping out in an animal sanctuary, to become an indispensable helper around the establishment. Have you given such a place a thought? There would be others there doing what they do and I’m convinced you would make friends and be accepted.
Good luck if you do join a sanctuary
We all have to settle down at some time dood with some earlier than others. Becoming engaged to my then future wife was a great and sudden grounding. Then marriage followed by a daughter on her way completed the process😁
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Yes it would be lovely but sadly I live in the countryside and the nearest animal rescue is 90 miles away .
I do have my own dogs and cats and recently a feral cat is frequenting my garden and I am trying to help him .
As a youth, I was neither shy nor bold, not really outgoing. I was quietly independent and did well in school. I was more middle of the road until I got married and left home.
Backed by a hubby who thought I was amazing in all things, I became self confident, caring of others, and thought a person could succeed in most things if they had fortitude and courage.
It’s stuck with me all my life, and is still true today.
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I was a very shy when young, one of the few blessings of being old is I am no longer shy or self conscious and according to my family frequently embarrassing with my uninhibited behaviour.
I am currently watching Miriam Margoles in Australian on television and fear I am in danger of becoming that lady 
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As someone who rehomed some sanctury cats, I commend you for trying to help Moggie. There was one such Puss that kept showing up at the end of my long garden at that time and eventually by me sitting out there, Puss finally plucked up the courage to sit by my deckchair and then nuzzling my hand. Puss would never come inside the house but before too long would laze under bushes alongside my cats who accepted Puss. I did manage to find out she was a neutered female when she jumped up on my lap as I sat outside, but she still refused to come into the house and prefered to live outside and eat what I put out for her. She also like being brushed and softly spoken too as the brush smoother her fur.
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Feral cats seem to know who will take care of them! We used to live near a farm - the farmer (well that’s what he called himself!) was useless and eventually left - as he drove away he shouted that we should put some food out for the cat if we thought of it! The cat was basically wild as the “farmer” only fed it occasionally and it lived off field mice and whatever else it could catch. It was a bad winter with heavy snow so every day would see me trudging through the ankle deep snow to a barn where I had made a small shelter, lined with old blankets where he used to sleep. Eventually he followed me back to the house and one day came indoors - stayed with us for 8 years and through 2 house moves until he became ill and the vet said it would be cruel to keep him alive.
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That cat and its history would make a good subject for a book as life through an abandoned farm cat’s eye. The problem with cats such as he/she is their diet when not being fed by humans would contain all sorts of viruses and nasties and my guess is that accumulation made it ill towards his/her demise.
I can just see that book’s title … The Barn Cat and its adventures surviving abandonment 
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In my teen years I became really bold. I’d do and say just about anything. I hated being held back by fear so had none. This, of course, had its consequences.
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Shy with girls until I went to Sunday School.I learnt a lot there and not from the Rev.
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I, personally, wouldn’t say I was shy as a child and people around me would probably agree because my position and standing ran counter to that of a shy person. Inwardly, however, I’d say with hindsight that I was introvert.
When I got ill as a teen, my introversion was consolidated, which some people may call shyness. Later on, I wasn’t shy either but felt best when I could take a low profile. I always felt that not being introvert would be a waste of energy and a lack of focus.
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When I was very young, I was bold and outgoing. In my teen years, I started to become more introspective. Then I got bolder in my twenties and thirties. Then more sedate and less bold after that.
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