Can't speak up in group

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Hey guys,

I just joined the newspaper club at my college and we meet every week for a few hours. I already went to two meetings and I don't have a role yet so I'm not really involved in the meeting just yet. The problem is before and after the meeting everyone socializes, and I only know one person from the club. When this happens, I become overwhelmed because so many people are involved in the conversation, and usually don't talk unless spoken to first. This is making it very hard to get to know people and I feel like since I'm so quiet, I'm coming across to them as weird. If I stick with this club, I'm going to be spending a lot of time with these people and I want to make a good first impression, but every time there is a social situation I just shut down. Does anyone else have this problem and have any advise for how I can deal with it?

I used to be very shy out of fear of doing or saying something that would give others a negative impression of me, but I later learned that a lot of people perceived me as stuck up, uninterested, and snobbish because of it.

I figured if I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, I might as well just start talking and say whats on my mind. I've found that this is actually the better option, as most of the time, it shows people I'm warm, friendly, and approachable. Or at least more so than I was when I never said anything.

So I advise, you just take a chance and strike up a conversation.

My difficulties still stand, however. I have to work much harder than others to follow multi-people conversations. I have to be vigilant for not only the non-verbal cues from each person, but interpret the dyanmics between all of the individuals in the group simultaneously. I have to figure out when is a good time to speak, who has something to say, and so on, and I will mess up on occasion, but hopefully by then people will know me enough to know it was unintentional.

I didn't realize people drew those kinds of conclusions just from someone not saying anything. Next time I'll try to be more open. This helps a lot. Thanks for the insight.

I was like that when I went to a socialist meet up. I did go from not talking to people for the first 10 years of my life to trying to make friends and belong somewhere.
I remember a group of students at the meeting invited me to lunch and I just walked right past them.

I'm not sure when I why I started to talk but I do say some odd and at time inappropriate stuff. It's really hard to know whether to remain quiet or end up saying something embarrassing.

Sorry, I haven't said anything that could help. I find catching up with the latest news at least gives me a few topics to talk about.

I have trouble in my 12 Step home group. A lot of times, I'll have something to say, but just don't have the gumption to say it. Other times the thoughts get so scrambled up in my head that I can't make them make sense, so I wind up keeping my trap shut.

I've started attending another smaller group more recently where I seem to feel more comfortable. We use a book, and I am able to draw from the material and share a little better. The woman who hosts that meeting says I need to be there this Thursday to share on Step Ten.