I wanted to mention something about "act as if," in at least one situation where it really helped me, is reading a book in high school called "Shy? You Don't Have To Be!" I'm naturally introverted, and in high school I was really shy and non-self-confident about making new friends, and particularly that I would ever be able to get a boyfriend. I learned I had to "act as if" if I wanted to have the personality I wanted, attract the kind of guys I was interested in, make more friends, and so on. A lot of this stuff, I was scared like crazy to even talk to boys, or girls I didn't really know, but I just did it. I had to endure rejection sometimes, but I still just did it. I developed the personality I wanted to have by acting as if.
I'm still fairly shy and nervous in a lot of social situations, but I bet hardly anybody knows that. I just barge right in and act as if.
