The idea of moving to a town or city where I know absolutely nobody kind of makes me feel green around the gills. I’m a pretty obnoxiously outgoing person, so when I talk about the idea of moving somewhere new for a job, I’m often told, “you’ll have no trouble making new friends!”

Yeah, well… somewhere inside this gregarious young woman hides the shy, scared, and self-conscious little girl who wore a baby blue velour sweat suit and ratty tennis shoes almost every day and had one friend until she was halfway through high school. Little do most people know, I am actually pretty...