Maybe we shouldn't take shyness for given, but ask what causes it... so that we can avoid that thing, when possible. One of the causes is people who bully you,

Maybe we shouldn't take shyness for given, but ask what causes it... so that we can avoid that thing, when possible. One of the causes is people who bully you, or perhaps they don't bully you at the current moment, but they make it obvious that they could if you did something they don't approve of. So you spend a lot of thought worrying about not atracting their attention. Another cause is lack of actually useful things to do, so people only compare themselves based on their popularity. If you suck at popularity contests, you are at the bottom of the social ladder. There is no way to compensate your lack of popularity by e.g. doing something that matters, because no one cares about that. If you are adult and make enough money, you can make these problems go away. (Though you need to realize that you have this option; otherwise your own mind can keep you in prison for years.) Move away from the assholes; find friends who are nice. If something bad happens at your job, quit and find another one. Do things that you consider meaningful, and spend time with people who share your values. And then at some moment you may look at the kids who were cool at high school, and realize that many of them turned out to be quite dysfunctional in real life. The greatest rebels have overdosed on drugs and died. The former playboys are divorced, and now they need to work two jobs in order to pay the child support. The ones who said the most impressive things... they still keep saying the same things, except no one is impressed anymore, because they see it as empty bullshit. The former shy kids are the ones doing interesting things now. If you do something good, you get rewarded. It may be a social reward, from people who care about the same things. If you are lucky, there is also a financial reward. You realize the haters don't really matter; the dogs bark but the caravan goes on, and you are now a part of a caravan. Suddenly, there is nothing to be shy about. Sure, there are still people who dislike you and dislike the things you do, etc. They just don't matter anymore.