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(Time: 14 minutes) Is Shyness Holding You Back? Do you ever avoid big parties so you wont have to make small talk with people you dont know? Do you get butterflies in your stomach at the mere thought of giving a presentation to colleagues? If youre among the 15 percent of shy adults out there, you may be comforted to know that almost everyone—even those life of the party types—feels anxious in some social situations. Therapists who help people with social phobias have developed techniques that can help anyone to master situations in which they feel shy. Readers Digest asked John Walker, director of the Anxiety Disorders Program at St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg and co-author of Triumph Over Shyness: Conquering Shyness and Social Anxiety about what steps people could take to get over their shyness in common situations. You Avoid Cultivating New Friendships You have a few close friends. You like them. You see them every weekend. So, whats the problem? Often we find that people who are quite shy have a very small circle of friends. They stick with safe situations in which they know people well. But then if their very best friend moves out of town, they can feel left high and dry, isolated, says Walker. How do you expand your social network? Like any skill, cultivating new friendships takes practice. Walker suggests starting with smaller challenges. Interact more with the people you see around you every day. Often people who are shy imagine they have to go out to a bar to meet people. But thats not a great place to meet people. Often its a good place to meet troubled people, he says. Instead, initiate conversations with classmates you havent spoken to before. Ask how their weekend was. Or say hello to your neighbor and mention how great his lawn is looking. Compliments are a wonderful way to break the ice. The next step is to make slightly more ambitious plans for cultivating friendships by extending invitations to people whom you would like to become more f