I finally went to an LGBTQ+ club!

I was really nervous too, but it gets better of course, and it's a very safe space. No one is judging you and they're all accepting so even when you're nervous you can find comfort in that.

 

There is a group in my local community, that I knew was well attended by people my age who are gay/lesbian and lgbt friendly. it is associated with a local church (UCC) and does some charitable work.

Basically, I am shy in person, when it comes to meeting new people without being nervous. I thought about joining up with the group for months, and finally decided I shouldn't be so timid about it, and basically set a date to make myself do it. It's not like I don't already have gay friends, but I didn't have any locally and I wanted to be more connected in the community.

Anyway, when the day came I didn't chicken out and I found that it was very welcoming and it didn't take me long to feel more comfortable. I think the moral of my story is that you're not alone when it comes to being shy and nervous in these situations. And of course, I'm old enough to know that the biggest obstacle to any challenge like this is getting started.

Apparently it was Woody Allen* who said that 80% of success was (just) showing up. And this is, for me, true. Or perhaps 100% of failure is not getting started.

*From wikiquote: Woody Allen later wrote in a letter: "My observation was that once a person actually completed a play or a novel, he was well on his way to getting it produced or published, as opposed to a vast majority of people who tell me their ambition is to write, but who strike out on the very first level and indeed never write the play or book. In the midst of the conversation, as I’m now trying to recall, I did say that 80 percent of success is showing up." - 1989 August 13, New York Times, On Language: The Elysian Fields by William Safire.