As a fifty-three year old mother of three teenagers, thirteen year old twin

girls and a fourteen year old son. At the age of fifty-three I feel like my life

has just begun. I had spent four decades of my life trying to overcome my

extreme shyness. Shyness, throughout my life was a constant companion;

we strode hand in hand, and side by side. Some would say that my shyness

and I were two peas in a pod.

Although, I spent four decades of my life trying to break free from my

extreme shyness, this book will glimpses of my struggles and the journey to

find my voice. Most people would say so what you were just shy, but what

they did not know that my shyness affected almost every aspect of my life?

My shyness affected my academic career early on in grade school and hung

with me throughout my college career.

I am a single parent and in this book I write about my experiences

of being a single parent, and how I can relate to the shy child who just

want to find their way and who teachers overlook sometimes because they

are so quiet, but if I can just help one person by telling my stories as my

experiences as a single parent and overcoming extreme shyness; then I have

done what I set out to do.

As you read this book you will embark on a journey that is filled with

true life experiences. Although I tried throughout my life to break free from

my extreme shyness, nothing I tried seemed to help. In my early elementary

school years I was classified as a slow learner, shy, quiet, and reserved,

but no one went beyond that assumption and noticed that l had a real

problem. Extreme shyness was a problem that was crippling me socially,

and academically. In junior high school my shyness was becoming more

apparent to everyone that not only was I starting to be bullied, but was

also labelled as being stuck up. In high school I tried to break free from

my extreme shyness by reading countless books on the topic, but nothing

seemed to help.