Ever find yourself composing a post and then before you get around to typing it someone on your friends list writes something to enforce it?

Meno has just done a post showing a little surprise at the thought of nerves when meeting a blogger in a more social situation, see the full post HERE.

I have replied, quite honestly, that I will feel nervous when we meet, be it either by phone, messenger of some kind or even in real life.

It's not that I don't know, trust and care for Meno, but it's the simple fact... I'm shy.

I know I don't reply to comments and posts as often as others do and that's just part of it, I have a few bloggers on MSN (when I remember to actually log in...), two on Skype and a fair amount of email addresses and even a couple mobile phone numbers.

But I rarely use them and I very very rarely feel comfortable doing so.

I feel one of the delights of blog is we're all on the same level, we post things that we hope people read but it's not forced upon them, nothing flashes up on their screen, even when we comment, I personally do it not expecting a reply even for people who reply to EVERY comment they receive.

For shy people it's a protective wall, we get to communicate, we get to add to the community, we get to put our points across but it's the ability to do it quietly in the background without putting yourself forward.

As the little sign Sminch had on her blog said "I'm not antisocial, just shy - you can talk to me."

If I message someone, email them or even (God forbid) text or phone it becomes "in your face" and after many years of being taught by bullies that I was lower than nothing, that nobody wants to hear what I have to say, that it was better in the long run for me to vanish into the background until somebody gave me leave to speak, normally when someone needed something.

So maybe blog is the perfect compromise, I'm still in the background, and although I have forsaken much of the easy anonymity that a site like this can hold I still feel like I'm a digital wraith, people can pass my blog by and only stop by and read if they want to.

I've always lived in worry that I'm forcing my presence on people... it's getting less but hey. I really dislike it at times, I find myself pulling back from personal contact, perhaps even losing friends because I can seem distant, refraining from personal contact, but it's not because I don't want to, just that my brain doesn't let me.

So that's why, even when it's someone I'm as cyberly-close to as Meno, I'll be nervous meeting people, on blog I can be easily ignored, easily overlooked, in person I find myself worrying I step up to much, talk to much, push my presence on people too much.

Personal meeting means I lose the safety net blog allows me, the polite invisible door people can close on me if they feel like it.

I'll tell you though, this site has potentially been a lifesaver, everyone needs social interaction and this makes it so much easier for people for whom "real life" can often seem like it doesn't want you in it.