| Spark has a great post on the power of props here at the forum. Your friend should read it. The truth of it is that being in a 'costume' gives you freedom. You can act any way you want, be anyone you want as soon as you slip into that costume.
Everyone has a pair of sunglasses that makes them feel matrix-badass, an outfit that makes them feel like sex on a stick. Those are props, and the persona you build to go along with them. You aren't a different person because of a pair of sunglasses, but putting them on makes you feel sexy, and so that's what you project to those around you.
Aside from actually getting out there and getting shot down until it doesn't effect him anymore, I've only got one suggestion:
Have him build a character.
This character has to be everything he wants to be when he sarges. He has to dress differently, act differently. Hell, give him an accent so he speaks differently. This is a persona. This is a fantasy.
Get him to be someone else for one night, and see how he likes it. Chances are that he'll like it a lot.
Take him somewhere no one knows him, somewhere crazy and fun if you can. Go to Atlantic City, New Orleans or just a club downtown.
Now Play.
The costume gives him something to hide behind to distance himself from any possible rejection, the character persona gives him the freedom from consequences that's at the heart of most social anxieties. The trip is really just to get you out of your normal sarging territory so you can get him to go wild without worry about running into people you know.
Don't know if it will work for him, but most people take a vacation from who they are every once and awhile. If his approach anxiety is that bad, it's time he gave it a shot. _________________ Bright
“Ridicule is like a wolf: it only destroys those who fear it”
The Word of the Day:
saucy: (adj) impertinently bold and impudent; amusingly forward and flippant; irrepressible.
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