Where do shy mums meet other shy mums?

[Quiet1]

Hi. I am an older mum and a genuinely shy person. Im pretty quiet in groups and gatherings. I am friendly and fine when I get to know people but Im lacking confidence, especially in the last few years. Although I keep trying, I find social interaction quite hard. But where do people as shy as me meet others? Confidence for me comes from supportive situations. Most of the mums at school have either made strong links or are very sufficient in family, friends, activities and finance. I have I have posted on other boards for depression, social anxiety and I even looked at boards about phobias but I realize by the posts there that I am quite borderline so I dont know where to find help and although I am quite isolated. My ds is nearly 6, dh is always working long hours. I live in North London. Does anyone have any practical advice or does anyone feel like this?

Hello,

Having read the postings, I felt impelled to post my own experiences! chiswickmum, your posting particularly rang true for me. I gave up work about 3 months ago to become a SAHM to my daughter now aged 16 months and just thought that it would be easy to make friends as work had never been a problem. But I have found many of the parent and toddler groups to be rather unfriendly, with some parents forming impenetrable sub groups! I am trying hard to start conversations, and have had some limited success. However, I definitely feel as each week goes by my confidence is slipping away, and am beginning to feel like a social leper.

Is there a meet up for parents in the Crouch End area? Due to move there next month and all will be new to me, although lived in Camden and worked in Hampstead many years ago. Have a daughter 4.5yrs old.

Would be nice to get to know others families, either with more than one child or 1 girl/boy poss similar age. . Can be shy but friendly once we get to know warm people.

AndreaS. I think there has been a Crouch End meet recently. The thread is here

Hi AndreaS

I'm a crouchender and my ds is 2.
As well as the thread MadameButterfly has told you about there is the not so posh north london mums thread and they have meetups sometimes.
Will be looking forward to hearing from you when you move into the area.

Glad things look like they are working out for Quiet1. Now can anyone do the same for me? I am in Sussex and I would describe myself in pretty similar terms as Quiet1. I joined Mumsnet in the hopew of making friends but it just seems to me that you all know each other already and I just can't infiltrate groups like that. I know that is probably sounding ridiculous, but I have a history of being let down (to express it mildly) by groups of people and it has made me very reluctant to push myself forward into existing social groups.
Don't even want to post this, but.... here goes.

Hi lonelymum, I know how you feel. Can I just reasure you that although alot of people on mumsnet do know each other and have formed groups, there are also people who haven't. Have you tried starting a thread for a sussex meet up?

I started one for you, Lonelymum. Here

Thanks Champs! Not sure I wanted to be thrown in the deep end but I know it is the only way to make a difference.

lonleymum- sorry!! After thinking about it, and reading your other posts, It seem as though I just muscled in, It just sounded like you wanted to meet someone and after searching sussex in the meet up section and not coming up with any, I thought it best to start up a thread. I thought maybe people based in sussex would see it more than this thread.