Teaching Turned Out to Be the Confidence Boost I Needed
Teaching offers a break from social anxiety by shifting your focus from your own fears to the needs of others.
Picture this: A young woman who’s never taught before steps into a classroom full of first-year university students, all eager to learn a new language. She’s sweating all over, feeling sick to her stomach, and wondering if she should even be there. Yet somehow, she manages to make it through that 45-minute class without fainting or throwing up.
As you may have guessed, that woman was me, some twenty-odd years ago. When I think back to that day now, it feels almost surreal. Yet there I was: shy, introverted, and socially anxious, teaching my very first college class. Granted, it wasn’t the type of class that required a lot of lecturing — I played a video and walked the students through a few questions. Pretty simple, really (the fact that I was proficient in German helped too, of course!). Still, I was doing something I found incredibly scary and way outside my comfort zone.
And guess what? I’m still doing it, all these years later!
If you suffer from social anxiety yourself, you may be wondering what on earth would make anyone do such a crazy thing. And how could voluntarily putting yourself in front of a group of strangers possibly help?
As for the “why” question — I wonder that myself sometimes! But jokes aside, here’s the real answer: Underneath all that anxiety and fear, I discovered a spark of passion I hadn’t known existed. Though buried under fear and apprehension, I could feel it the moment I stepped into that classroom. Despite the overwhelming emotions and the intense physical symptoms, there was also a flicker of joy, a sense that I was in the right place. A feeling of purpose.
I found that I enjoyed helping others learn, grow, and gain new skills. I loved seeing them make progress, build confidence, and expand their knowledge. It was deeply satisfying. And probably one of the reasons I’ve stayed in teaching for as long as I have.
Now, onto the second question: How did teaching help me overcome my social anxiety? I’m glad you asked!
Teaching Forced Me Out of My Comfort Zone
Teaching pushes you far outside your comfort zone in a big way. So many aspects of it scream a loud no for any introvert, let alone someone with social anxiety. But one of the most effective ways to manage social anxiety is through exposure: deliberately putting yourself in uncomfortable situations with the goal of becoming more comfortable over time. So that’s what I did. Day in and day out, week after week, I kept showing up. I pushed through the nausea and the urge to run for the hills. I put myself out there and gave it my best shot.
Of course, it’s often much easier not to do that — to talk yourself out of it, to find a reason to quit. In my case, it actually helped that I was officially employed by the university. I had signed the paperwork; there was no backing out now. Students were counting on me. The staff was counting on me. It was sink or swim, whether I liked it or not.
Teaching a Topic You Love Builds Confidence
While teaching does require a lot of interaction — which can be draining for introverts — the upside is that you’re talking about something you (hopefully) care deeply about. You’re not just making small talk; you’re sharing knowledge about a subject you’re passionate about. And chances are, you know more about that subject than your students do, which can help reduce the intimidation factor.
For me, that subject was language. I’ve always been passionate about words and how they work. Once class was underway and I got caught up in the material, that passion helped ground me. It distracted me from the feeling that I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
Instead of being forced into surface-level conversation (hello, mindless small talk!), you get to dive into something meaningful. You get to go deeper. For socially anxious introverts, that’s a win-win: You’re sharing something you love and stretching outside your comfort zone.
Dealing With Different Kinds of People Reduces Fear
As an introvert, I’ve always been content with my small, close-knit circle of friends. I rarely feel the urge to branch out beyond that. But as a teacher — especially a language teacher — there was no avoiding daily interaction with all kinds of people. In my first year alone, I taught five different groups, each with about 20 students. They came from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, and interests. Many of them were people I probably wouldn’t have crossed paths with — or spoken to — outside of a classroom setting. But in this role, I had no choice but to engage with them.
To my surprise, once I pushed past that initial wave of discomfort, I found that I could hold my own. And the more I did it, the easier it became. Repeating this kind of interaction day after day helped me feel less awkward around people. It slowly chipped away at the fear.
Teaching Helps You Look Away From Yourself
When you live with social anxiety, your focus often turns inward — your fears, your discomfort, your racing thoughts. Without meaning to, life starts to revolve around you. Teaching shifts that focus. It requires you to step outside of yourself and turn your attention toward others. For a few hours each day, you get a break from the endless loops of self-doubt and worry.
For me, that shift had a snowball effect. As I practiced focusing on my students in the classroom, I found I could carry that skill into other social settings too. Over time, it became less intimidating to strike up a conversation with a neighbor or say hello to someone at a party. Teaching helped me realize that I didn’t have to stay trapped in my own head.
Many Students Appreciate Introvert Strengths
There’s a common misconception that the best teachers are high-energy extroverts, those social butterflies with endless stamina and booming voices. But in my experience, that’s not the only kind of teacher students appreciate. Over the years, I’ve taught mostly adults, along with five years at the high school level, and many of my students valued the fact that I wasn’t like that. They appreciated my gentle, calm presence and my steady, thoughtful way of teaching.
Yes, calm and confident. I said confident — a word I never would have used to describe myself in the past. But during a demo lesson I gave later in my teaching career, an assessor described my teaching style using that exact word. I’ll never forget it. For me, it was the sweetest kind of victory. A testament to what years of facing my fears — and slowly chipping away at my social anxiety — had accomplished. Someone calm. Someone confident. (I still have that report and reread it whenever I’m having a bad day.)
It’s a Journey, Not a Race
My journey has been a long one, and I certainly didn’t transform into “Ms. Confident” overnight. It took years of showing up, teaching different groups, and trying new approaches to get to where I am today: Someone who still feels anxious now and then, but who has built real social skills and worked through many of her fears.
Teaching may not be the path for you, and that’s perfectly okay. There are plenty of other ways to grow in social confidence. But if you’re someone who, like me, enjoys teaching in any form, I encourage you to lean into it. Step out and do it more often. You might be surprised by how much it helps you grow. For me, it’s been a powerful part of becoming the more confident person I am today — and it still is. 
