Nervous About Social Event Tonight

A girl I work with invited me to her birthday gathering tonight at a bowling alley. I feel good about getting invited. It's a good opportunity since I have no friends. At the same time, I'm obviously very nervous. Other coworkers will be there and they all know me as very shy and maybe sometimes off-putting. The girl who invited me also knows and said I'm really shy. She said she used to be the same way and wants to help me break out of my shell. I feel more at ease that she told me I could just sip on a beer in the corner while they bowl lol.

I'm hesitant to go. I mean, I know I should go. I know it's the right thing to do. I can't run from my fears. But what I fear is being shy or awkward and then having to still see these coworkers at work almost everyday. How can I possibly be a different person tonight, even though I want to be more social and open? I know it's unrealistic, so I'm almost expecting myself to be very quiet and maybe awkward. She only invited me because we do have some rapport built. I'm actually mostly comfortable talking to her, but not everyone else. Ughhh. I think I'll just get a little drunk before I go to hopefully loosen me up. But not too drunk because I don't want everyone else to see that I am.

I know being shy doesn't make people dislike you, so even if I don't say much, it shouldn't matter. People just think I'm quiet, but that doesn't mean they don't like me for it. I know that I don't think of shy people that way. As long as I'm friendly and don't say anything mean or weird I should be fine, but I worry about my social skills lol. Maybe something I'll regret will come out of my mouth.

What advice do you have for me? What do you do when you're really nervous before a social event?

Well good thing is that they already know you're quiet so they may not expect much out of you. I say take things in baby steps. You'll probably get more social the more you do things with these people outside of work. But I wouldnt expect to turn into the life of the party in one night. Also dont let anyone try to force you out of your shell too unless you absolutely want that. I have too many times got pressured into doing things at social events which led to some embarrassing moments Id like to forget. But yeah just dont put too much pressure on yourself or let anyone else do so and I think it'll work out in the long run.

Knock out all bums

Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk