Scared of breaking out of my shell at the 2012 Atlanta Event?!!!?

I have to go to Atlanta on business and thought I might plan my trip around the same time as the OH Atlanta Event 2012.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but now I’m having second thoughts.  I’ve always been a very shy “wallflower” and I don’t do well around people I don’t know.  I’m not sure I’d have fun or get much out of the event because I’d be too terrified to talk to anyone or make any friends.  I hate being alone in a room full of people.  I’m sure there are a few others out there like me.  I’m really not sure now if I should go or not.  A part of me feels I should go because I need to start changing my personality as my body has changed and break out of my shell, but another part of me thinks that is the craziest idea ever. 

Does anyone else feel this way?  Do you have any advice or thoughts on this?  Thanks. 

 You "know" me and I'll be there!! Honestly I'm the same way - not social at all in real life lol. But I did go to the NOLA conference and there are plenty of people who are dying to talk to anyone/everyone so I never felt alone and made some good friends while I was there. Sometimes we do have to push ourselves out of our comfort zones to make progress. ATL is a good place to start :)

OH conferences are AWESOME! You'll instantly have lots of new friends. Many wallflower, and former wallflowers there. :-) So get out of your comfort zone. Come to the event. I promise you'll love it!

I am fairly new to this site....what is the OH Atlanta event?

 OMG the OH events are so totally FUN... I have been to several of them and will be in Atlanta too....

Although I was apprehensive at first having your concerns of being among strangers and being shy (believe it or not, I mask it well), it NEVER once felt that I was among strangers ... there is something about the community when it gets together at these events where it seems like everyone knows everyone or someone and even when you can't put an avie to a face someone will come up and talk to you ... trust... you will be so totally at home you WILL forget to be shy....

COME TO ATLANTA AND HAVE FUN!!! I FOR ONE WOULD LOVE TO MEET YOU ...... 

I have AWESOME memories of OH events .. while I cannot go to all of them because of work schedule and business schedule constraints I purpose myself to go to at least one each year if possible.... 

And because I just love a picture tale ... here go ...

OH Conference Philly 2008 ... this awesome sista her name is Mary came up to me and told me she enjoyed reading my threads ... I had never met her before ... and that day I met an AWESOME and BEAUTIFUL woman .....
 

My DH also had awesome fun in Philly .... this is my DH with Ramon in Philly OH Conf 2008 .. I was two weeks post panniculectomy ....
 

2009 OH EVENT - RYE NEW YORK.....

...an awesome meet and greet Halloween party on Friday Night... Me, Fawn and our awesome NY fashionista sista...I met her in Philly the first time around.... we sat at the same table and it seems like we knew each other since for-ever...
 

I even met awesome peeps from the SBAWLS forum that I had not been on prior to meeting them ... WOW ... what an AWESOME and FRIENDLY group...

Me and Father Don OH Conf Rye 2009
 

2011 OH Conference Long Island ...

Oh wait a minute LOL ... I seem to hit up all the conferences in October LOL... yup that is a time of the year when my schedule is more flexible...

We had an awesome time the Friday night before ...we had an awesome costume party and meet and greet and I met some AWESOME OH sistas ... tons of pictures .... I took the opportunity of bringing with me a canvas I had painted of an awesome OH sista a year or so before and was sooooooooo happy to be able to hand it to her ... I was looking for her and she saw me at the same time I saw her at MM's table ... what an AWESOME way to meet someone and how awesome that MM had her professional camera handy and took an awesome picture of us ...

Me walking towards MM table taking the canvas out of packaging...

 

and the two of us as captured by MM ...

 

and getting totally comfortable at the costume meet and greet.. EVERYONE IS FRIENDLY... EVERYONE IS INCLUSIVE OF YOU ... TRUST YOU WILL HAVE FUN! DON'T HESITATE COME!!!

Me with Lynn and MSW will not Settle...

 


Me with Maria ...
 

and can you believe my goofy arse was one of 5 finalists in the costume contest? who would have thought that I would have donned a leopard cat suit with a tail over 5 years and 4 months ago prior to my surgery? I owned that suit and when a couple of friends prompted me to participate in the contest I was too shy and hesitating to participate ... then I went up there and all that changed ... I had FUN!
 


I LOVE LOVE LOVE OH CONFERENCES .... OH AND THE AWESOME INFORMATIONAL GROUPS AND THE DEMOS .... THIS IS AN AWESOME DEMO OF TWO SISTAS  IN 2008 MM AND EGGFACE GIVING US AN AWESOME PROTEIN DEMO ... THE TASTES WERE AWESOME AND GREAT TOO!

THE CONFERENCES ... THE GROUPS.. THE PRESENTERS AND THE BAG OF GOODIES AT THE DOOR ARE ALL TO DIE FOR AWESOME!!!!  


 

DON'T SHY AWAY!!! PLEASE COME IF YOU ARE IN THE AREA!!! TONS OF PEEPS AND TONS OF FUN!!!

I will say this, I went to one event and never again, I did not feel comfortable there.  I am not shy but I do not feel comfortable in a room full of strangers either, I met a few people I knew there and that was nice but not nice enough for me to feel it wasn't awkward.  I have found in my two experiences meeting people I met through OH, that not everyone is as they pretend to be.  I had another really horrible experience at someones wedding I attended.  That I will not comment on at all, maybe I am really jaded because of that but for me I have no desire to go to any events at all.  

OH weddings have a habit of going belly up!!!   "Fun" for all those reading about the aftermath - not so much for those who are in the middle of the drama ...  

I have never had any desire to go to an OH event because I'm not really sure what you do at them or what the interest would be.   I'm not shy but just think that if the crazy on the boards is anything to go by, I'll not invite it into my real life LOL!

I will qualify that paragraph above to say that I have met some people from here IRL and have always liked them - but then I have been able to choose to meet them - and the peeps I have met have turned out to be exactly who I thought they were, which is good!

Right before I went the OH conference the person (who I had gone to her wedding and turned out to be a whack job) told me all sorts of awful things about the people who I was going to meet at the OH conference.  Honestly I should have just cancelled at that point because I really wasn't sure who the liars were.  And I really just felt uncomfortable the entire time. All mistakes I refuse to repeat.

That's too bad because I really enjoyed the OH conference I went to and came away with some good positive relationships (people though that are not  super active on the boards....lol probably not a coincidence)