Saturday Chip---Outgoing/Withdrawn

[SunnyGirl]

Saturday Chip---Outgoing/Withdrawn

I try to stay on the outgoing side of this chip, but when
I get my "little feelers" hurt I can feel myself withdraw.
In a room full of strangers, I am really a shy violet, I have
to put on a persona and make myself seem self-assured.
I have managed to do this when I was working, but in
social situations I am not very good at it. Now once I get
to know people I open up...... It's then that I can be the
life of the party and converse like a normal person, ;D
(what ever normal is ) At home and around my family
I am very outgoing and enjoy the time greatly. EOR feels
like home and you are my family, I can let my guard down
and tell it like it is.

Peace on the journey, SunnyGirl

[caressa]

I am much more mellow than I use to be. Many years ago I was very shy and had no self-confidence. I made myself get up and greet strangers and people I hadn't seen for a long time in the Legion. Of course, back then I was fortified with rye and coke. When I came into the program I was so introverted and withdrawn you wouldn't know it was the same woman who got up in front of a hundred women to speak and put on dart, euchre, cribbage and bowling tournaments; who hosted senior nites and put on euchre parties, movies nites and made sandwiches and baked cookies and served tea and coffee and socialized.

Thanks to the program and the healing I received as a result of working the Steps I no longer needed something to give me the courage to be outgoing. My voice is very soft spoken and many people have trouble hearing me. Over the years I have learned to project my voice so people can hear. When I share my story at meetings, it is always better that I have a mike although it is no longer necessary. There is a woman at bridge who complains she never hears me when I speak to my partner but that is her problem. He is the one who needs to know which card I am playing, after all he is the dummy, it is not her role! Sorry couldn't resist that a little resentment there. My partner won't even speak to the woman because she is very rude not just to me but to others and her partner. As the director says, "Do you know how to find a good partner? Be one!"

Over the years I have volunteered in the local jail, detox, and Hamilton Housing. I have always been a people person. The first one on the dance floor the last one on, the party girl who disappeared as a result of using drugs and alcohol and got herself back as a result of recovery one day at a time.

[Lin]

I am very much on the outgoing side of this chip. I have family memebrs who are withdrawn and that's totally not me. I'd rather be in a group of friends than alone with a book.

LIN

[dlg333]

This is my first night of posting to this board and I am glad I registered.
Like the other posts I have read, I too find it difficult to let people into my life in any meaningful way. That is why I have chosen to write here. It is my first step toward trying to open up to people. I do chit-chat well at work or out and about so long as there are no expectations of my time outside of that. It's not that I don't like people, I just fight the dilemma of not liking chit chat much, but not being able to get close enough to people to get beyond the chit chat to anything deeper. I have only recently been able to admit this to myself. I thought I had all the intimacy I needed in my partner and siblings but in reality that is not enough, I need some friends real friends. I am not sure how to make that happen but I plan to keep reading here and being open to taking risks.

[caressa]

Glad you were outgoing enough to share. When I want to say the right words or take the right action, I try to remember to say the Third Step Prayer to ask for help from the God of my understanding and follow it up with the Seventh Step Prayer to get out of the way so He can work through me.