Obstacles

Amy Ridenour recalls a meeting with Johnny Carson when she was young.

Some reports about Carson say he was painfully shy. I'm pretty sure he was. Back in the mid-70s my parents took our family to tour NBC. Our tour was walking though an indoor parking lot when our tourguide was briefly called away. As we waited, a car pulled up. It was Carson, and he had to get out and get by us to get into the studio. <snip> ...this was Johnny Carson; the master of talk! Who could be more comfortable filling just a few seconds with friendly chatter? Somebody else. The King of Late Night was too shy to speak.

One of the things I've noticed about shyness – and I've had a chance to observe my own at close range – is that it can be overcome. Nowadays, people are surprised when I tell them that I was, and at times still am, shy. I just cover it very well.

One thing I noticed was that after some training, and practice, I got to where I was not shy in certain situations. Over time, the range of situations has grown, but it's taken work.

Apparently, after having climbed over one obstacle and tackled shyness on the stage, Johnny Carson never felt up to climbing over the same obstacle for social situations.