 Katherine, a
25-year old
lesbian in Minneapolis, is extremely
shy
and unassertive. That has resulted in
problems
with her relationships in the past and she now wants to
work on
improving her self esteem and becoming more
confident and secure. She writes, "I have been told about
joining a group where you can be working on a project with
people. I think that I am going to start volunteering for a
GLBT activist group. I am not a political person and that is
why I have never become involved in any activist group, but it
is for a cause that I believe in. It would be really nice to
make friends with some lesbian or
gay
people. The biggest problem is that it is hard for me to
commit to things like this because of my social anxiety. A lot
of times I will end up staying home because I get so anxious
about going to a group activity. What do you think?" |
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While I am
supportive of your decision to join a non-profit group like
this, as you said, I am slightly concerned about the social
anxiety issues. Joining a politically active group means that
they might ask you to take on big responsibilities right away
and may expect you to even take on a leadership role. While
you may be able to meet like-minded people there, the members
of such organizations (because they have to fight
discrimination) can often be somewhat more aggressive - not
the right environment for you at this time. |
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Did you find
what you are looking for? Try another
search. |
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| I would
recommend something that requires more one-to-one or
small group interaction. Some ideas that come to mind
are helping
seniors, or teaching something that you are good at,
or helping a small organization with a task that you can
do in your free time (for example, several organizations
seek help updating their websites once a week or so -
you get to work with just one or two people in the
organization for a few hours). |
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So see if you can
find something like that so you can
make friends too without the stress of becoming very
visible right away. At this GLBT organization too, find out if
there are such volunteering opportunities rather than being
asked to organize a big demonstration. |
