Are you shy?

Yes.

*hides in corner*

Painfully so.

Yes and no.

I'm always more reserved around strangers, more passive, waiting to see how to fit in.

I'm half-way between introvert and ambivert on the Myers-Briggs scale.
It means I need quite a lot of time alone to recharge my energy;
three hours with others is enough to drain my energies.
This is because I feel the need to give the whole of my attention to others when I'm with them. I constantly "read" them, not just listening but watching.
It's the residue of having been thoroughly bullied throughout the first six years of school, and to some extent in the second six years.
It left me with a permanent unconscious expectation of rejection, and that makes me hypervigilant.

As the strangeness dissolves, if a person becomes a friend my reserve melts and I become very warm. Not shy at all.

Here on the Mug, those fears don't affect me. The relative anonymity creates a zone of safety. One can always retreat at the slightest shadow of anything that sets off the inner alarms.

Maybe you encounter me here as loud-mouthed, opinionated, not backward in coming forward.

I wonder how many others here are different online to the way they are in real life.

What difference does it make to wear an avatar and username? This post was edited by inky at August 8, 2021 8:32 PM MDT

Rarely.

Awwwww and such a sweet kiss it was.  I have become quieter around people, I used to attempt to get to know everyone. I had a turning point in my life, for which I thank the Lord.  I  am very different now. It's not shy but reserved. 

(blushes)  Extremely!

Hardly!

I remember talking with a group of coworkers a couple years ago and we were talking about people being shy. I said that I am shy and they all burst out laughing. I think of my self as shy but I guess I don’t come across that way. Maybe guarded is a better word. 

To some extent, but I have learned not to show it.

Yes. Very.