Girlfriends family

[Narnat,]

I have been living at my girlfriends parents house for about 6-7 months, we where in a long distance relationship for about a year and a half before I moved in. In the time I hadn't met many of her family i.e. Aunts, uncles, cousins ect - I am quite a shy person and I sometimes find myself heading upstairs just before they arrive or if I am up stairs and I hear them come in I wont go down stairs until they leave. I don't mean it in a rude way I just don't deal very well with meeting lots of people at the one time or having to be in a room full of people I hardly know! Any advice would be great

[buttons]

i'm the same but i suffer from social anxiety
and it's not as easy as going into a room and being like hey!! or what 'normal' people would see as the most obvious solution
has your girlfriend told them you're shy so they don't feel offended or think you're rude? that way they might not force you into talking?
i guess u could just think of ways to make it more comfortable somehow... i would rather meet one at a time rather than a lot and being the focus of attention and would rather my partner do it in a way im comfortable with

[scottish]

i'm the same but i suffer from social anxiety
and it's not as easy as going into a room and being like hey!! or what 'normal' people would see as the most obvious solution
has your girlfriend told them you're shy so they don't feel offended or think you're rude? that way they might not force you into talking?
i guess u could just think of ways to make it more comfortable somehow... i would rather meet one at a time rather than a lot and being the focus of attention and would rather my partner do it in a way im comfortable with

and I do

[Zak]

Confidence comes in time. When you have a job it forces you to speak to people. I am a very shy person too but everyone thinks I'm quite.. out there. I never thought it my right mind I would be able to talk on the phone, ring people, meet scores of new people and lecture to people but here I am.

It will get easier trust me.

[Empired]

Zak is right. Confidence really does come in time. I suffered from social anxiety and I used to refuse to go into town because I was afraid of being left alone, I couldn't go to the supermarket, I couldn't start a conversation with anyone unless they spoke to me first. But you start slowly doing more and more things without really noticing it so, in the long term, your situation will get better.

Short-term, however, I suggest you talk to your girlfriend and get her to do a lot of the talking for you. Ask her to explain your shyness to her family while you're not around and then slowly start to come downstairs a bit while she's around to support you. Maybe start with coming down for five minutes and just listening to the conversation before going back upstairs and work your way up from there.