Social Anxiety

Anyone have any tips on how to work on social anxiety?

 

drink?

 

Imagine them all on the toliet?

 

Honestly.. Music and certain lyrics really helped me with social anxiety.
See I'm not quite ... normal ... and I was always aware of being stared at in public places. I found it difficult to walk into a store because people were looking or so I thought. I'd always have to pull my phone out just to make myself a bit more comfortable.

I had to let that go though and realise that in the world of faceless faces, why should I live with a shame of being who I am?

I basically got that from music and once I connected to it, it really really helped me. Now I'm just like whatevs when I'm out. People gone stare, people gone stare.

 

Well that may work, looking for something besides drink or drugs. Like any kind of sober exercises.

 

I was not trying to be too funny...but I was present when someone had to give a speech to a large crowd and they were petrified, and someone told them what I said.....and it calmed the person down and made them realize....that everyone is just human.

 

Mediation.

All around good breathing at all times.

 

Moonglow has the right idea :2thumbsup:

In your minds-eye picture everyone in the room naked



Hotwater

 

Again, I think diet has a lot to do with it. I notice that since changing my eating habits, eliminating sugar and refined carbs, most of my anxiety has went away. But I also make sure I get enough magnesium in my diet. I find that a magnesium deficiency can be the cause of anxiety for some people.

But I still do have some degree of social anxiety, mostly because just interacting with most people is a chore for me and seems so forced. For me I just make a conscious effort to not let myself get nervous. You almost need to recondition your thought process.

 

I was gonna say benzos as that works absolutely wonderful but you did mention without drugs and, yes, drugs will only mask the problem.

The real issue is in your mind and I hope this advice helps you. Go out and do shit that you think you would never do. See how people respond. You will see that most people either don't care, or they might laugh but their not laughing at u in a bad way. Their laughing cuz what u just did was funny but it's cool ya know, u would laugh too if someone else did that and maybe think they were cool for doing it cuz most people would be too embarrassed. I promise you would be surprised what you can "get away with" in public

Watch my YouTube video "I went to Times Square cuz I love everyone" lol.

I didn't really do anything in that video except acting stupid. I was telling everyone on the train that I loved them. "I just want you all to know one thing...I love everyone, everyone on this train I fuckin love you lol" I was saying that shit around a LOT OF PEOPLE and it was cool nothing bad happend except some people laughed. You can laugh at me too.

Idk on the real tho I can relate, I've dealt with it before...I think everyone has at some point. It's no big deal tho. I think the key is seeing that nothing bad comes but you have to go out and step out of your comfort zone. You don't have to be social butterfly or a huge people person either...it's okay sometimes to not have a lot to say..maybe u think what THEYRE talking about is stupid lol.

I also think it's common for many people to misinterpret social anxiety as deception or attempting to be deceptive or untrustworthy and this can cause strange reactions and reinforce some negative feelings sometimes when the other person seems/acts awkward also because of this reason.

Best advice: just be yourself at all times and people will either love you for it or not...if they don't they will have nothing to do with you and in that case why should you care what that person thinks anyways. Other people will be themselves too and it's cool.

PLUR

 

Good advice.

Vitamin B12, I believe. The B vitamins are good for this. Also, epsom salts. In a bath.

PR hit the nail on the head when he said recondition your thinking. I had bad anxiety for years, still get it socially sometimes despite working a very social job.

It comes on when I start thinking about being nervous or awkward. Then I think I'm acting that way. I have to try, sometimes very hard, to fake confidence until it just comes/feels natural.

 

maybe you could try getting more "practice" being social. i don't mean that in a negative way, and i obviously don't know much about your social life.

but you could try interacting with people often, while testing out some of these new ideas. like take lunaverse's advice and project confidence when you are speaking to a customer at work. do you get anxious around them? if you do, it's probably not as bad as you might get it around a group of your peers, or a hot girl for example.

maybe i'm rambling, but maybe you'll find this helpful in some way.

i guess i'm basically saying "practice makes perfect"

maybe this advice is shit. i dunno

 

I think i would just go with something Daphne Guinness said "I was afraid of heights so i jumped out of a plane" Which is so true in a sense that sometimes it's better to just force your self to face something because then that proves that it's not real and that it's all in your head and the more you do it the more the anxiety/fear goes away.

 

Yeah, I think a lot of social anxiety (and anxiety in general) comes from neurotic thinking. You work yourself into a thought pattern that can be very hard to break once you're in it.

 

Practice. i used to be pretty awkward but since ive been working in retail for a while now its helped me a lot since it forces me to talk to different kinds of people every day.

putting yourself in uncomfortable positions helps

 

Exactly.

I been asked many times over the last ten years about how to improve playing an instrument, and the method is the same as dealing with anxiety. When you're playing, if you start thinking about what you're doing and where your hands and/or feet should be, you always fuck up.

When one starts that cycle, "Oh, should I be nervous? This is a nervous/socially awkward social situation. Am I feeling nervous? I think I am." The body starts creating the symptoms of anxiety because the mind is telling it that it should be anxious.

 

Yeah g, i think you and i kind of have the same introverted qualities. Like to a stranger it seems dull, but once that person opens up, they have a lot of deep passions, like your music, science, whatever.

So I think the first part is to acknowledge that you will never be as loose and comfortable as an extrovert, but the connections you do make are stronger. This isn't to say you can't improve though

First and foremost just get comfortable talking, say hi to everyone at work, sometimes that strikes up a conversation you didn't expect, and now you have something to talk about with this individual. And sometimes just acknowledging someone, can make their day.

I think anxiety can be handled pretty well when you broaden your perspectives. Like whoever you talk to, it doesn't mean you have to EVER see them again. So just go for it. The worst thing that can ever happen is nothing.

 

I tried that once but I stopped because doggie style makes my girlfriend gassy.

 

try the pile driver position than

 

OT: Madvilliany is really great.

+1