Believe it or not, social anxiety disorder does not just affect you. It affects everyone that you interact with or have a relationship with. Every single time you make an excuse not to meet because you are internally worried about what the other party is going think, you end up taking a step backwards from the right direction.
Let’s put one foot in front of the other this time.
Your family, friends, and co-workers look to you for support, knowledge and trust that they can talk to you and not feel judged themselves. When you let the anxiety of a social situation take over, you end up thinking more selfishly and in turn, can alienate others. You do not want to further yourself even more at this point. Time to re-group and seek out a plan.
Let’s not be ashamed to ask for directions.
Sometimes our pride gets in the way and we have to stop and ask ourselves if what we we are doing is creating good things in our life. We should be mindful that if you find yourself pondering this question for too long, you may possibly go into an existential crisis. Remember that there are certain aspects in our life that we cannot control. Let’s Pause. Let’s Breathe.
Let’s inspire others.
Being reactive to a situation can only make matters worse as it creates more stress. The stress has a trickle down effect on the body and can trigger social anxiety symptoms. Learning to be proactive, especially in our minds, can be extremely beneficial when it comes to dealing with social anxiety. We can prepare ourselves for interaction and handle the situation with a roadmap, instead some half-written directions on a napkin that just blew away.
At Thriveworks we have licensed counselors that understand your situation and want to see you succeed. There is no better reward than seeing the tools we give you being put to work and holding up to the test of time.