By Iminza Keboge
Published January 14, 2019
Do you struggle with expressing yourself in front of people? Do you wonder how on earth you can fit in or make friends in order to have fun? Are you the type of person that can be described as being shy, quiet or introverted? Are you always on the outside?
Don’t Be Shy: How to Fit In, Make Friends, and Have Fun–Even if You Weren’t Born Outgoing may be a mouthful title, but it is full of useful tips on how to make friends, speak your mind and get people to listen to you.
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“You must learn to like yourself enough to allow yourself to be liked and respected by others,” says the well illustrated full colour publication printed and bound in China. “Learn to listen to criticism, determine whether it’s constructive and … decide what you can do to improve.”
The authors of the book–Claude Clement with Melisa Daly–argue that “Everyone possesses the ingredients needed for balanced self-esteem: respect for yourself, awareness of your own desires, knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses, and a willingness to act without fear of failure or being judged.”
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The secret to healthy self esteem, the authors contend in the book that targets the young reader (read, teenager or adolescent!), lies somewhere between conceit and humility, i.e “the place where you don’t think you’re better than everyone else, but you don’t think you’re worse, either.”
This book that runs barely 112 pages is part of a series titled Sunscreen that includes titles like When Life Stinks, Just Us Girls, Drugs Explained and My Parents Are Getting Divorced.
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You can get a copy of this book that also carries a list of other useful books to read and websites to browse on the subject under discussion from your nearest bookshop. And oh, Don’t Be Shy contains a comprehensive subject index for quick reference in case you don’t want to read the entire book at one go.
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