Me: “What could possible go wrong?”
Social Anxiety: “I’m so glad you asked…”
👆👆🏼👆🏾 Can you or someone you know relate?!
7 Do-able strategies incoming…
Social Anxiety (SA) affects us all to different degrees. SA is a fear of negative evaluation eg: Rejection and/or shame and can be experienced around authority figures, towards people we know + new people too. Social avoidance usually follows. Let’s go ⚡️
1️⃣ Exposure: Through different situations our mind can learn what it needs to in order to move forward. Practice with exposure to situations with low stakes eg: Customer service staff & shop attendants. Connecting into fears you have in small ways can prepare for bigger situations.
2️⃣ Use coping skill: Even the most confident of people use this method! DMing, rehearsing in advance, using a cheat sheet with key points for getting through convos. These things help us say the things we want to/need to say, how we want to say it.
3️⃣ Start small. A simple ‘hello’ or authentic compliment can kick off interactions. Ask work/school related questions, enquire about their weekend or holiday, share some info about yourself. These are great prompts to carry in your tool belt for when opportunities to connect crop up. These will flow more naturally the more you practice using them.
4️⃣ Focus on others, not on yourself. Really listen to what they’re saying and think of follow-up questions and comments, instead of focusing on what you think they think of you.
5️⃣ Focus on the present moment. What can you hear, see and smell? This will help keep your mind from worrying about what you’re going to say next or what you just said. Breathe!!
6️⃣ Remember that anxiety isn’t as visible as you think. Even if people notice you’re nervous, it doesn’t mean they’ll think badly of you. It’s ok to share what you’re experiencing with people… In fact, usually that opens up new opportunities for connection.
7️⃣ Most people feel awkward talking to new people at first! Learning how to talk to new people is like honing a skill. It’s something you have to practise over and over. Be willing to make mistakes from time to time and stay open. You’ll rarely ever make a fool of yourself because people are usually happy to talk to people & learn about them.
Friendliness, courage & growth are 3 values that can help navigate out of the barren forest of social anxiety. It’s not a fun place to hang out.
Shop The Values List from our link in bio.
Go you good thing ⚡️
Anxiety isn’t you.
It’s something moving through you.
It can leave out the same door it came in.
-James Clear
Click here to watch the reel
Personal note:
Researching social anxiety from numerous psychology sources to put this post together was a really interesting process. We’d like to acknowledge how hard SA must be for those who experience it… Especially in chronic cases.
Understanding SA better will make all of us better friends and more understanding people because this experience happens for everyone to different degrees. SA could be under a surface you don’t see.
Let’s look out for each other ✨
