lol I'm deffinetly better then I was, but I'm still horrifically shy...
I don't think its as much about being judged with me as to just honestly believing that no one cares about me and is interested in what I have to say.
I can acctually pin point this back to kindigarten, sitting in a large group at lunch time, everyone talking about stuff, I decided to give my input to the conversation and all of a sudden everyone went quiet, awkward silence, then everyone went on talking as if I hadn't said a thing...
From then on I was the "silent one" lol I remember in High School, others would even try and talk to me and work out why I didn't talk or say anything, I'd just respond with "I have nothing to say".
These days I can talk if spoken too and i'm pretty good at conversing if someone else has instigated it, but I could not start a convo with someone if my life depended on it. I also still berate myself for days and weeks after what I see as "saying something stupid" lol.
Oh well, life sucks and then you die anyway