Unapproachable?

I apologise if this is in the wrong forum, it was a difficult thread to place!

Basically I have a problem in that I think I have a very unapproachable manner. It's all related to shyness, I don't really know how to act with strangers, though not a quiet person with friends I don't know how to initiate interaction with strangers and so tend to just avoid having any contact whatsoever. For example, if I see someone I vaguely recognise, say, from a seminar, but have never really spoken to, I'll just look away. I also think maybe they won't recognise me so I'll look like an idiot if I smile at them or something.

I also don't really know how to act when walking, say, around campus, by myself. I mean, I can't walk around smiling when I'm by myself, and as I'm a model and a highly energetic person I naturally stride to quite an extent when walking anyway, and I don't think my neutral disinterested expression or stride encourage people to like me :frown:

Quite a few people who are close friends now admitted to being intimidated by me when they didn't know me as well, and I've even heard people in clubs make comments such as 'she's hot but arrogant' etc. I'm not in the least bit arrogant, just shy! What should I do to overcome my strangerphobia so that I can drop my 'ice maiden' act? :confused:

Just to make it clear, I have a lot of close friends and my desire to become a more approachable and forward person isn't really because I need to make more friends, I just want to have an easier time being with strangers, and, of course, an open manner is always a bonus when job hunting.

Any help much appreciated! :smile:

Reply 1

I_L_S

When I don't smile I can look pretty unfriendly. I smile at ppl I recognise & started chatting to strangers randomly and it's brilliant! it totally breaks down barriers & ppl remember me for it so approach me.