Stephan, The Shy Boy

2000 Words

Stephan is new in the neighborhood and very shy. He went to college to learn about certain subjects that would help him advance in his career. He had a lot to offer but wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He had a wide range of interests but had a difficult time picking one.

Stephan had his sights on building homes for people that were down on their luck and couldn't afford to buy a home. He had the skills that would qualify him to do this but with all the permits that he would have to get, he was afraid that he might do something wrong. The thought of signing any kind of a contract made him begin to doubt himself. He was afraid to sign on the dotted line. Anxiety began to get a hold of him and he began to shake. There were a lot of questions that would enter his mind and didn't have the courage to ask anybody, for fear of getting into trouble. There was too much competition out there for him and didn't think that he had any kind of chance to make his project work.

Competition, he felt, would ruin any chance of making him feel good about himself; he felt awful. The more he would think about it, the more he thought about giving up on the whole thing. With all his skills, the one thing he couldn't do was talk well. This worried him a lot, especially when it came to explaining things.

The question now is, what will Stephan do about this problem he has with communication?" He could take some classes on this subject such as taking one on speech; this will help him to get up in front of people to speak. This will help him to get over stage fright. The more practice he gets, the easier it will be. The churning in his stomach should subside the more that he does it. He will learn to be more comfortable with his voice. Before he knows it, he will be a professional. One more thing to know about Stephan is that when he gets frightened or unsure of himself, he tends to stutter. He was very aware of his problem, which made him feel self-conscious; unsecured in his abilities. He could purchase a mirror and use it to practice his speaking; he could see what he looks like when he speaks and how he presents himself.

Stephan, the shy boy, was embarrassed to raise his hand in class. By not being able to retain what he just read, he would have to read it over and over again just hoping that his memory would retain something. He didn't mention this to his teacher because he wasn't confident enough. Falling in love, getting married, and having a family was something that he wanted. Who would want to be with me, he thought to himself, and what do I have to offer to anyone with the problem that I have? He faces the reality of all this every day. Leery that the possibility of this could ever happen, he just said that it is what it is.

One day he came up with a bright idea. He said, I can do this, and by golly, I need to at least give it a try. He developed enough courage to ask a nice girl if she would like to go out on a date with him. When she responded by saying yes, of course I will; I would love to. Her response completely took him by surprise. He was jumping up and down because he was so excited. He invited her to go to the prom dance. He was okay with this until he remembered that he couldn't dance. He said to himself, "What do I do now?"

In order to dance, Stephan thought that he had to have rhythm. To him, having rhythm was something that he was sloppy at. He felt that he couldn't keep in step with the beat of the music. For a dance partner, it seemed to him that a broom would make a great substitute. By having a broom, he discovered that he could do a lot of fancy dance moves. The confidence that he had with the broom still made him less confident with the girl. When he tried to talk, he would clam up. Prom night finally arrived. The evening went off without any complications. He managed to get enough confidence in himself to ask her if she wanted to dance. She was eager to do so. Before he knew it, he was out on the dance floor. He decided to allow the music to guide him, and his method had worked. They were both overjoyed. While he was on the dance floor, he decided that he had the ability to dance, and he danced the night away.

The night of the prom was a night to remember; it was a way of getting him to perk up some confidence in himself; he was less afraid to go after something than he used to be. Afraid of not being able to hold a relationship together, he began to have doubts about himself. It didn't matter that he had a lot of skills, it was just that he wasn't confident enough in himself to use them. It didn't matter what he did, he still felt insecure.

Stephan grew up in a family that constantly put him down. He believed that he wasn't any good to anyone because of all the negativity in his life. It did have an effect on his life all these years because of the negativity, but he wanted to be better. He didn't want to put forth the extra effort because there were many times that he thought that it wouldn't matter anyway. It was time for him to develop some tools that would help to overcome his down times.

Stephan was a humble man who put other people's needs before his own. To the woman he would choose to settle down with, he wanted to be a good husband. He wanted her to be happy and have no regrets that his life of agony had caused.

It's time for Stephan to come up with a plan that would help him feel better about himself. To do this, he would have to come up with a starting point. He thought about this for a while. Since animals had brought joy into his life, he decided to start there. He could always count on them when he needed a friend to listen to.

Since deers were calm and peaceful, he decided to start with them. An idea came to his head while he was on the subject of deers. He thought he would draw, paint, and write about them. Stephan wanted to have the security that they had embarked on him. First, he thought about how sweet and innocent the baby fawns were. When he noticed the white spots on them, he had the notion that he was being spotted, which meant that things were going to look up for him. He was glad to have such a nice feeling about that, so he decided to proceed on toward another project.

Stephan decided to focus on a bird, so an Eagle was his second choice. He chose the Eagle because it flies so smoothly in the air. It has a peacefulness about it that shows a lot of courage and strength. The strength to take down or battle his insecurities and negativeness, he thought that focusing on the Eagle would give him the courage and strength to erase all the shyness away from him. This would turn his insecurites into securities, and his negativeness into positiveness. Indeed! This would make a new man out of him.

He thought about an elephant for his third project. They say that an elephant never forgets. He thought about this for a while when a brilliant idea popped into his noggin. This would make his brain smarter; it would be filled with knowledge, and the thing of it is, his knowledge would always be there. By gaining knowledge, he was beginning to get excited about all the activities that he could do.

The fourth thing he thought about was a horse. When he would think about a horse, he thought about freedom. A horse could run like a free spirit because of its gracefulness. It sure would be nice to have that kind of feeling. Galloping along with the breeze blowing through your hair, the breeze would be gentle and light, and your hair would be soft and light. The feeling of freedom is in the air, and everything just seemed right with the world. The likeability ratio was on a high level.

It would be fantastic, Stephan thought, if people would only learn to like one another. If this was an ideal world, perhaps this would be an optimistic one. He thought that he would begin working on a project that would make this become a reality.

Through the struggles and experiences of his life, Stephan, The Shy Boy, learned to overcome his shyness. He learned by observing how others dealt with them. He didn't know why he struggled so much with his shyness when he had a lot of potential. All of his life, with so much negativity around him, it did affect him by being shy. People have mentioned to him that he shouldn't let the things of the past bother him. He needed to talk to someone about what had happened but nobody wanted to hear about it. Stephan felt abandoned and lonely around his peers because they thought that he was somewhat weird, perhaps a bit crazy.

I developed this character thinking that an assumption is made when a person has a lot of potential, like Stephan, that they would be outgoing rather than being shy. He had dreams of what he would like to be in life. Finally, by asking a girl to go to the prom with him, it gave him courage. He was very excited that she had agreed. They had a good time but his insecurities took over once again; he didn't think that he deserved to have a woman as nice as she was.

Stephan tried to measure up to everyone's expectations but since he wasn't able to "fit in" to societie's norms, he was looked at in a different way; they simply couldn't figure out why Stephan has a problem with being shy. He done his very best, but to them, he simply wasn't good enough. Did he ever get over his shyness? I'm leaving that up to you. It takes a long time to get over shyness but if you really thought about it, if you were around a bunch of negativity all your life, you are bound to be skeptical about things (afraid to venture out).

Stephan was a nice looking young man with a lot to offer. He had the skills required to build a nice home; it would've been a wonderful house for children to play at. It's such a shame that he would be overlooked in the community where he grew up at. He would've been as asset to the community but ended up moving to another area; still he wasn't satisfied with himself. It would've been nice if the community would've accepted him in with welcoming arms. This would've made a big difference in this young man's life. He would be a lot happier and a much stronger person because of it. It's worth it to be able to invest in someone who thinks differently than the majority; your investment would make you proud. You'll find that they had more potential than you ever realized. You'll be a winner by giving a shy person, such as Stephan, a positive remark; you won't regret it.


Written by Anna Marie Carlson
Friday, May 28, 2021