This is somewhat a FR but most i want to share this to encourage other people. I'm 24, had 2 girlfriends but I am very introverted and shy. Now my immediate goals are to kill AA and shyness. Today I went to an eco protest. It was already dark and raining but I had an umbrella. I looked around, saw some girls but did not approach thinking they are alone now but whey their friends will come it will be a bit awkward.

Anyway, I kept seeing a girl which did not have an umbrella so after about 1-2 minutes i said fuck it and went to her:

Me: Hi! Why don't you have an umbrella? I'll hold it for you too.

Actually I have one but didn't open it yet.

Me: Oh, ok, i'll hold it for the both of us anyway (or something along these lines)

I'm X

Me: I'm onamissionfor3141

Because of the shouting it was not a good environment to talk, we just talked a bit about the protest and hanged together till i parted asking for her full name to add her on facebook.

Now what I want to say is that I made all the mistakes: very little eye contact, no negging (could have said: well since you have an umbrella you dont need mind) and absolutely no funny (maybe terrible?) jokes, and that is OK. Cus, finally, I DID APPROACH!

What helped me achieve this seemingly insurmountable task for a very shy introvert ?

  1. doing a good deed: holding an umbrella for someone which apparently hasn't one

  2. daily medidation: 2x28 min. It trains you when emotions arise to acknowledge them and calm yourself.

  3. just 3 therapy challenges (google it for details): asked a taxi driver to honk, asked for a free sample of croissants asked for no chees in a meal.

  4. body language -> walking straight like a man. This is a real confidence boost. Practice it until you're walking straight without thinking about it.

  5. It helped that I bought some nice looking clothes (visit /r/malefashionadvice )

Now I'm hoping that this first one was the hardest and I'll try to approach more and do some more therapy challenges. After I can approach with minimum AA then I can focus more on the other stuff.