My life in a nutshell:
VERY shy when I was little...but since ppl thought I was cute, they were like AWW cute! Shes shy!...(thats not bad, like shyness isnt always a bad thing. I kinda liked being shy. Actually I just noticed ppl who were extroverted were usually idiots). So by shy, I mean like I would hid behind my dad's pant leg if I didnt know you.
But I had friends, and I was happy. I was really lucky b/c I remember my childhood as a really happy time. And I have encouraging teachers, and good friends.
So from like 10-14 I became more extroverted. And i really wouldnt even consider myself shy at this point. But somewhere along in HS (I guess when public speaking became more present in classes), I had specific anxiety AKA, talking in front of others. I still had a lot of friends, and mind you, I was still really happy. But to myself I just "ok i will just get better w/ practice w/ public speaking." Which was a good attitude to have. But it just wasnt that simple.
To make a long story short, this specific anxiety "snowballs" into social anxiety, then eventually to generalized anxiety, where I couldnt call to order pizza.
Its slowly getting better. It takes a lot of time and patience.