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Does Success Suck Less?: Meeples For Sheepish Peoples 9
Hello,
Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise here with a couple more installments in my Meeples For Sheepish Peoples series, discussing the social activity of board games in the lives of people who aren’t necessarily socially outgoing.
Earlier in this series, I discussed the anxiety I felt at every eighth grade dance. Oh, how much easier, I told myself, group interaction would be once I’d finally become an adult! However, if you pay attention to this series as closely as I’m sure you do, you’re aware that social anxiety is something that I continue to struggle with to this day.
Still shy and nervous. But, now I console myself with the fact that I’m just some random face in the crowd. Oh, how much easier, I tell myself, conventions would be if I was famous, a star of movies and television, an ambassador of geek culture, a personality with 2.7 million Twitter followers. Then, then I’d find confidence no matter where I went, and this wallflower would finally bloom. Right?
I mean, it must be easy to be at GenCon when you’re someone like Wil Wheaton, star of movies and television, an ambassador of geek culture, a personality with 2.7 million Twitter followers, who even attended GenCon this year, and, in the midst of it, tweeted:
When I read that, I was crushered. But then, I realized that there’s inspiration hidden within these 140 characters.
As I’ve said before, not every socially adverse gamer wants to broaden their horizons and meet more gamers. And that’s fine. But for those of us that do, we need to realize that if social anxiety is a part of our personality, it’s likely always going to be. Even those that we perceive as successful continue to struggle with it. And if we keep waiting for “the right time” or “the right level of success” before we start doing the things we want to do, it’s likely never going to happen.
So, if shyness, awkwardness and anxiety are likely going to be a constant lifelong struggle, is it worth even trying to overcome it? Next time, I’ll wrap up this set of segments with my answer to that question.
Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise here with a couple more installments in my Meeples For Sheepish Peoples series, discussing the social activity of board games in the lives of people who aren’t necessarily socially outgoing.
Earlier in this series, I discussed the anxiety I felt at every eighth grade dance. Oh, how much easier, I told myself, group interaction would be once I’d finally become an adult! However, if you pay attention to this series as closely as I’m sure you do, you’re aware that social anxiety is something that I continue to struggle with to this day.
Still shy and nervous. But, now I console myself with the fact that I’m just some random face in the crowd. Oh, how much easier, I tell myself, conventions would be if I was famous, a star of movies and television, an ambassador of geek culture, a personality with 2.7 million Twitter followers. Then, then I’d find confidence no matter where I went, and this wallflower would finally bloom. Right?
I mean, it must be easy to be at GenCon when you’re someone like Wil Wheaton, star of movies and television, an ambassador of geek culture, a personality with 2.7 million Twitter followers, who even attended GenCon this year, and, in the midst of it, tweeted:
@wilw - August 16th, 2014
“The thing about Depression and Anxiety is, it can overwhelm you any time, even when you’re at #GenCon and really want to play games." - @wilw
When I read that, I was crushered. But then, I realized that there’s inspiration hidden within these 140 characters.
As I’ve said before, not every socially adverse gamer wants to broaden their horizons and meet more gamers. And that’s fine. But for those of us that do, we need to realize that if social anxiety is a part of our personality, it’s likely always going to be. Even those that we perceive as successful continue to struggle with it. And if we keep waiting for “the right time” or “the right level of success” before we start doing the things we want to do, it’s likely never going to happen.
So, if shyness, awkwardness and anxiety are likely going to be a constant lifelong struggle, is it worth even trying to overcome it? Next time, I’ll wrap up this set of segments with my answer to that question.
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