Would you love more than anything to go to a concert or festival, but the idea of being in a big crowd keep you home, staring at the same four walls day after monotonous day?
If this describes you, you may have a condition called social anxiety and it affects your whole world.
Not only is your social life impacted as you have a hard time being out in public places, but your work may suffer as well as it causes you to be very self-conscious when interacting with other people, which may make them doubt your abilities.
What is social anxiety?
According to WebMD, social anxiety disorder “is an anxiety disorder in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations.” Essentially, it is an extreme anxious or nervous feeling any time you’re around other people as you fear that they’re monitoring and judging your every move.
Common physical symptoms of this type of anxiety in social situations include:
- Heart pounding
- Excessive sweating
- Physically shaking
- Facial blushing
- Digestive issues (like diarrhea and gurgling tummy)
While this disorder is not life threatening, it can certainly feel like it if you’re the one who suffers from these distressing physical symptoms.
Of course, any time you’re trying to overcome anything anxiety related, it takes time. Therefore, it is extremely important that you’re not too hard on yourself if you start to take steps forward and then slide back a little. Just keep working on it and you’ll get there eventually.
Here are five tips that can help bring you some peace when dealing with social situations:
Tip #1: Recognize the anxiety for what it is
One of the first things you need to do to begin the calming process is to acknowledge the anxiety for what it is.
After all, if you’re out running errands and start to feel panicked out of the blue, it will incite even more anxiety and panic if you don’t realize what is happening. You may begin to question whether or not you’ll be physically okay and wonder what is wrong with you.
Therefore, you’re going to want to familiarize yourself with how you feel when anxiety starts to rear its ugly head. Do your palms sweat or does your heart palpitate?
Become intimately aware of your own physical responses so you know exactly what is occurring. This allows you to know that everything is going to be okay (you’re not having a heart attack, for instance) and that you just have a little bit of anxiety that you need to deal with.
Tip #2: Remind yourself that your perception is different from reality
With unrealistic fear being at the root of this disorder, this tip can be the most difficult to overcome. However, with enough practice and constant reminding of yourself that your fear is only perception and not reality, you can start to work towards feeling okay when you’re out and around people.
When you find that you start to feel anxious, tell yourself that others aren’t judging you, it just feels that way. In honesty, most people are wrapped up in their own life and could care less about yours.
To the contrary, even if they were, so what? We all make judgments about other people all of the time and sometimes we are right and sometimes we are wrong. In the end it doesn’t matter as the only thing we should be concerned with is how we view ourselves. You should never let someone else’s opinion of you dictate who you are.
Admittedly, this tip works better for someone with a mild anxiety versus someone who has a hard time even stepping out her door. So, if you fall in the latter category, you may want to seek professional help for assistance in getting over your fears and getting back into life.
Tip #3: Take small steps
The best approach when it comes to this type of anxiety is to not overload yourself by taking in too much society all at once. In other words, don’t buy tickets to the biggest concert in town thinking you’re going to heal yourself by shocking your system with a huge crowd of people as this may just throw you into a full blown panic attack.
Instead, take small steps. For instance, when you run your errands, go to local stores that you feel more comfortable with. From there, work your way up by going to larger stores that you’re not real familiar with.
Then, when you feel okay doing that, start going to events that several others will be at. Just take it one step at a time.
Tip #4: Go out in public with supportive people
One of the best things you can do when you’re anxious is to surround yourself with people that you love and trust to help you. This will instill in you a sense of peace and comfort when the situation you’re in is anything but.
When you need to go out into public, go with someone who understands your fears and is calming to you. Use them as a crutch until you feel strong enough to stand on your own.
Tip #5: Create ways to calm yourself immediately
When you start to feel your anxiety rise, the best thing you can do is reduce it immediately as the more you let it go, the harder it is to squash. So, you’re going to need to come up with ways to calm yourself down right when you notice that you’re starting to tense up.
Some anxiety releasing ideas may include:
- Focused breathing. Take your focus off from everyone around you and transfer it to the air as it enters and exits your body. Take a few deep breaths and let your body fill itself up on soothing oxygen as you take a mental break from what is happening around you.
- Sit down. If you don’t have to worry about your legs giving out and falling down in front of everyone, it takes a little bit of the anxiety away. Find a bench or even a curb to rest for a minute and give your mind one less thing to think about.
- Take a drink of water. Keep a bottle of water on you at all times so that you can cool your body when it starts to heat up. Plus, it gives you something to focus on instead of worrying about what everyone else is thinking about you.
- Get a worry stone. Some people with anxiety issues choose to carry a worry stone in their pocket. Every time they feel their anxiety rise, they reach into their pocket and rub the stone, feeling instantly better and no one is the wiser.
Social anxiety is definitely no fun. It can rob you of good times and creating memories. Don’t let it do that to you. Try these tips today so you can live a life you love. It’s your time.
Cover photo: weheartit.com
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