How do you know if you have social anxiety?
Are you afraid of people passing negative judgment looking at you? or are scare that people evaluate you all the time? If this is the case with you, then you may have social anxiety. Generally, social anxiety can lead to depression, feeling of low self-worth, humiliation, or embarrassment. The chances are that the person suffering from social anxiety would prefer to stick to their closest 2-3 friends. If you have social anxiety, you would try and avoid social situations where many people are involved. You would always fear that no one should ever know about our social anxiety. People with social anxiety abstain from sharing what’s on their mind.
The good news is that there are ways that you can adopt to deal with the disorder of social anxiety.
Ways to deal with Social Anxiety
1. Try and talk to new people
For starters, you can start by entertaining the thought of exploring your limits. It’s not at all an easy task. It will be very challenging in the beginning. Leap and try your best to step out of your shell. If you can do it once successfully, you will feel much less anxious about it. There are chances that sometimes you would have to deal with some awkward silences. It would help if you told others about how you feel. It could mean speaking your mind and what all you’re going through.
2. Live a healthy lifestyle
Keeping a healthy lifestyle will help you to increase your self-confidence and lessen your anxiety problem. Our body and mind are interconnected with each other. The way we deal with our bodies has a clear impact on our minds and vice-a-versa. However, the way you treat your body and mind determines the life that lies ahead of you. Therefore, you should pay heed to the diet that you consume. Eat healthy fruits and vegetables, keep yourself hydrated by drinking plenty of water, stay active, and give priority time for physical exercise. Avoid consumption of alcohol and abstain from doing drugs. Also, it would help if you focused on lowering your caffeine intake.
3. Stay away from negative thoughts
Negative thoughts will always push you downwards, and it will never lead you to achieve anything in life. For instance, the thought of talking to someone new or being a part of a group discussion can invite negative thoughts. At first, you might feel like you won’t be able to speak in front of a crowd. You need to stop thinking about how others react to your ideas, what others will think of you, etc.
4. Eliminate your fear
Determine the fear that holds you back from speaking to others, and the triggers that make the symptoms of social anxiety come to the surface. Try and jot down the situation which causes you anxiety and try to eliminate them. It would help if you tried to step out of your comfort/safe zone. Think of things as to why you want to remain only in a group of 2-3 people. Why your confidence level culminates when you are with a bigger group of people? Why your hands start shivering, and why you happen to wipe your face over and over. Make a point to face all your fears and eliminate each of your fear one by one.
5. Put yourself out of the spotlight
No one is perfect in this world. Stop looking at yourself as a victim. You need to stop thinking if people judge you when you will step into a hall or a room full of people, how someone perceives you. These things will always turn us inward and force us to stay within our comfort and safe zone. You should rather focus on making genuine connections\ bonds. Act confident or learn how to act confident and not to be a center of attraction.
6. Have your objectives clear
Every therapist will always tell you to make your objectives clear. You should be focused on your objectives, and your mind will not think about whether you felt anxious or nervous. You start thinking about your performance progress towards objectives. Never focus on someone’s bad reactions. In case your teammates do not like your ideas in a meeting, your objective should be to present your idea and communicate the same, no matter what their reaction will be.
