I can't be alone here?

metaphor • 29 August 2013 at 2:28 PM

Is anyone so terrified of meeting to talk with professors/teachers that they have to spend literally hours trying just to APPROACH the professor or teacher without being a mess? How about putting off meeting with them, even when they have mentioned several times that they would want to talk with you? Even reading their reply to your email takes courage?

I guess I've always sort of been this way. In grade school, I'd get in trouble for leaving the classroom without permission to use the restroom because the idea of asking a teacher just freaked me out. Eventually, I built up the courage to ask something so trivial, but I was comfortable asking only a select few teachers and I would feel so embarrassed and ashamed afterward. It was not the idea of asking to use the restroom that bothered me; it was the idea of asking for anything at all.

But now it's seriously affecting my ability to communicate with my professors. I fear that they might think I come off as arrogant, that I think their guidance and support is below me, which is totally the opposite of what I actually feel.

So frustrating...