Social Anxiety

Hey guys,

It’s been a while since I last wrote something on the blog. I think I give this “excuse” every time I come back here. Anyway, that’s not important now. What I want now to write to you is about social anxiety. Yes, you did read it right. And why is that, you all ask.

Well, not everyone knows, it’s something none of us doesn’t really remember to write about and we tend to ignore. The thing is, I had social anxiety too, and I still have, but now I feel much better about it. It’s not something I embraced, I just found my own way to fight against it.

Still reading this? Well, thanks for having caught your attention. Please go on.

I’ve always been a shy person. Social anxiety is something whose basis really stands first on this trait (Shyness). At a certain point, it’s pretty normal. Most children feel shy, for example, when talking with strangers even though parents recognize them. There’re a lot of situations where shyness really stands out. The problem rises up only when we as adults can’t control most of the situations. The most common example is when we are in the middle of the crowd. For people with social anxiety is such a big deal just to pass through it, that it feels like a nightmare. You must have heard about most of the symptoms: high blood pressure, heart starts pumping up really fast, you lose sense of where you are, seizures are frequent as well, you’re breathing just like you’re walking through hell, etc. Because of that, social anxiety is something really mental. At some point, if you start asking yourself what you’re afraid of whilst in the middle of the crowd, you don't give importance about what others might think of you of even if they’re staring at you. So, here’s one quick shortcut before you start feeling some of the above symptoms: think about the fact that all these people certainly have a couple things way more important to do than just staring at me and watching me. Believe me, it’s a great relief what you feel right after doing that. And also, you can make a joke out of nowhere just by looking at someone, observing and just telling yourself: why is this person doing that? It looks like judging, but with this quick approach, you might get things a bit easier for you.

Of course, it takes time to overcome something like this. Remember that social anxiety is one of the ways that could lead you to a severe depression. You can’t let this problem dominate your entire life, you’re much better than that. For the next months, try to put yourself out there with a lot of people and start practicing. Believe me, just staying at home playing video games or scrolling down your screen just watching other people' lives makes it worse.

There’s a lot of research on this particular subject, and I did read just a couple of them. I could overcome most of the problem with some tips from studies. So, I made this article really small, because I think it’s accountable at least from what my experience has been.

Fear is perfectly normal in every human being. The problem is when we allow it to become part of every single aspect of our rotine. Make new friends, laugh more often, invest in yourself and travel, spend money on simple things. Family, friends, passions, these are the most important to keep. The rest comes with time, patience and dedication.

I hope this article was useful for you.