Hey Ninja, Im still quite new but in the short time ive been here Ive read a great number of posts/threads expressing similar accounts of social akwardness, which actualy gave me a sense of relief that im not the only one to have felt this way & that its quite common, theres great advice in Legato's post above about taking simple steps to breaking this problem down & it truly works, a simple approach is normaly the best approach to many things, I changed my attitude & made simple changes that in turn helped to make massive changes in my life, as a result Im very comfortable in social interaction now, with the help of a beautiful woman who helped me come to the conclusion that if I wanted things to be better for myself I have to make a conscious effort to do what I can to change them, so I challenged myself set little goals that if I was invited out or given oppourtunity's to go out I'd always say yes & when out Im not to shy away from conversation, and if no oppourtunities arose I'd take it upon myself to get out & do social things, also learnt to aussure myself that if I had akward moments it was just a normal part of life because its impossible to relate to everyone, I got new hobbies putting myself into more social enviroments to overcome my self consciousness, I basicaly did everything I could to take as much pressure off myself to make myself feel comfortable & it all started by changing the way I was thinking the biggest battle in life is the battle we have in our selves, alot of the thorts I had worries of how people portayed me, if they thort I was weird am I acting weird? do I look okay? Am I dressed right? am I making sense when I talk? am I acting right? Wonder if they like me, all these kinda thorts I changed because I realised that my biggest problem wasnt them accepting me but me accepting me, so I took small steps and in time I broke myself from those shackles & now Im living so happy & free, as a matter of fact today I went to the gym with a beautiful girl at 9am this morning so beautiful she stops traffic, for months I wldnt go out with her kept turning down her offers cos I couldnt understand why she would wanna kick it with me, I was afraid of what she would think of me if I opened myself up, anyways we had coffee, sat and chilled had lunch, things felt so free & easy we conversated all afternoon had the most wonderful day, she's the very same girl who made me realise I needed to change, it has taken her a whole year of pushing me, encouraging and supporting me to get from where you are in your situation to where I am in mine, so im living proof that taking simple steps making small changes in turn lead to massive changes in your life but 1st we must aknowledge the need to make a conscious effort for change, I hope this post helps to better understand, support, move & inspire you and any others who read it like my friends kindness did for me, Blessings!