Conquering Social Anxiety: Taking Control of Your Life In Just 1 Month

Conquering social anxiety: taking control of your life. If you think “social anxiety is ruining my life,” you need to see a healthcare professional.

When I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, I wasn’t too happy, but I finally knew what I was dealing with. Consequently, I just thought I was extremely shy, but it was social anxiety. All those years…

Therefore, don’t wait and think it’s going to go away, it doesn’t! Being that, that’s your first step to overcoming social anxiety. Go talk to someone about your worries. Otherwise, it just keeps compounding on itself and you begin to loose yourself (or your identity).

Hence, my personality changed. I was doing things that I would never think of doing before.

For example, I was lying quite frequently. Recently, I started to think, “that’s not the person I want to be!” I wasn’t raised like that. Therefore, any anxiety or disorder can effect you in very negative ways (not just lying).

Yes, I have told “white lies” before, but this time, I didn’t even have second thoughts about it. Needless to say, I put the brakes on that!

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou

CBT for Social Anxiety

Conquering social anxiety and taking control of your life Equally important, therapy can absolutely have benefits for social anxiety.

The most effective treatment approach often depends on your unique symptoms and therapy needs, but cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one common approach known to make a difference.

In addition, CBT teaches you to identify specific thoughts, emotions, and behaviors fueling your distress. From there, you can begin to explore these feelings and reframe them into more helpful beliefs. Moreover, the key principles underlying CBT suggest:

Overall, mental health symptoms and emotional distress stem from unhelpful and incorrect thought patterns. For example, “I can’t share my idea in the meeting. It’ll come out wrong and not make sense, and everyone will laugh, and I’ll feel so embarrassed.”

These thoughts and feelings can, in turn, drive unhelpful or harmful behaviors. You don’t share your idea, or any other ideas you have, and your manager and co-workers start to notice your lack of participation.

Otherwise, if unchecked, this pattern will persist and eventually extend into other areas of life. Maybe you stop speaking up in other situations, including around friends and family.

Important to realize, if you doubt your ability to make any sort of useful contribution, and the fear of embarrassment and rejection becomes so strong, you avoid people more and more.

Obviously, recognizing and adapting these beliefs to more helpful ones can ease distress and promote change.

Given that, this might involve accepting that your ideas have value, or learning that people generally won’t laugh if you misspeak — even if they do, they’ll probably forget it shortly afterward, not judge you.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” ― Angela Y. Davis

Social Anxiety Groups

Conquering social anxiety and taking control of your life. Below are some options for both local and online social anxiety support groups.

Follow the links to find a local meetup near you, or join a larger global network in which you have the chance to meet people from various locations.

ADAA List of Support Groups

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) provides a comprehensive list
Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Support Groups. Silver Spring, Md.: Anxiety and Depression Association of America 2010-2018 https://adaa.org/supportgroups.

If you are looking for a support group in your local area, this might be a good place to start. Be sure to look for listings specific to social anxiety when choosing a support group.

The Loop.co

Loop.co is a mobile app focused specifically on helping people with social anxiety. It has many useful features in addition to its support groups, which are run by trained facilitators.

With Loop.co, you can also learn coping skills to deal with your social anxiety, and you can join live sessions to practice them. If you’d prefer to just observe live sessions and learn from others, that’s an option, too.https://www.loop.co/

SAS (Social Anxiety Support)

On forums, you can join in on discussions that are currently happening, or you can pose a new question to members and ask for feedback.

As the advice and support you are getting will mostly come from peers, it should not replace the professional advice you’d get from a therapist.

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” ― Marilyn Monroe

Social Anxiety Reddit

Conquering social anxiety and taking control of your life. The social anxiety subreddit is a community where individuals can share their experiences and seek support from others who also struggle with social anxiety.

People can discuss their symptoms, coping mechanisms, and strategies for managing social anxiety in different situations. It is important to note that while online communities can be helpful in providing support, they are not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

Anyone experiencing significant distress or impairment due to social anxiety should consult with a licensed healthcare professional for a comprehensive evaluation and appropriate treatment plan.

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Essays and Addresses”

Managing Social Anxiety

Conquering social anxiety and taking control of your life. Having social anxiety doesn’t have to keep you from making friends, trying new things, and reaching your full potential.

You can develop new habits and coping skills to help you identify your feelings, find a more positive perspective, and overcome your social anxiety.

Here are a number of techniques you can try to manage social anxiety:

Challenge Your Negative Thoughts

How realistic is my fear? What is the worst thing that can happen if my fear turns out to be true?

How bad is that, really? How likely is the worst outcome to actually happen?
What would I tell a friend if I knew they were feeling the same fears I am feeling?

Keep Things in Perspective

Remind yourself that people tend to pay a lot of attention to their own lives and far less than we think to other people’s lives. This means that people are very unlikely to be paying as much attention to the things you do or say as you think they are.

Remember that people make mistakes all the time. Even if you make a mistake, you are not the first person to, and you won’t be the last.

Remind yourself that even if you do make a mistake, most people will still be there for you.

Practice Mindfulness Techniques and Breathing Exercises

When you feel signs of social anxiety, experience the negative emotions without judging them or acting on them.

Stay in the present moment. Focusing on what’s happening in the present—in your body, in the space around you, in the larger natural environment—can really help bring your attention away from the worries you have projected onto the future or past.

“We will fail when we fail to try.” — Rosa Parks

Conclusion

I don’t know if you can completely get rid of social anxiety, but you can live with social anxiety. I’m a perfect example of that. Besides, I still have anxiety, but I don’t let it run my life anymore.

Notwithstanding, I have put steps in place when I have a panic attack starting. I use CBT all the time.

I am also on Social Anxiety Reddit a lot. Besides, I take from that what other individuals have experienced and implemented them into my plan.

Even though, I still have anxiety, I don’t let it get to me like it used to. Sometimes, I just quietly sit in my room, and do some breathing techniques (3 square or 5-4-3-2-1) when I feel an anxiety attack coming on.

So you see, you can successfully manage (or for the most part, begin overcoming) your social anxiety. Conquering social anxiety and taking control of your life.

Never give up, it can be done! I’m going to head out for the evening. I hope you have a good evening (or day) wherever you are. Until next time…