#social anxious

[lostl1sbons1ster]

why is it always 0

[silence-ofdeath]

“I am alone with my own thoughts and it’s dangerous.”

-cress

[cutiealls]

[shamelesslyimpurrfect]

[dumplingprincessextraordinaire]

I used to do this but now I chew loudly to assert dominance no matter how quiet it is (I’m just kidding)

[writtenroses1813]

So hard to be quiet and shy and yet yearn for healthy social interaction like Do I Want To Speak To You? Yes. Do I Want To SPEAK To You? I would rather die

[adviceformefromme]

A personal note on anxiety based on my own experiences as someone who lived with crippling anxiety for years..and is pretty much anxiety free at this point..

The bodily signals are not to be ignored. This is your body talking to you, it's letting you know very loudly that 'hey, something is very fucking off, listen to me will you??' and it might be quite literally your whole life. The course you decided to study, the city you decided to live in, the friends you're hanging around with, the foods you are eating, the content you are consuming, the lifestyle you have chosen, the apartment you are living in. Ignoring these screaming signs from your body, does not help. In my experience the more I ignored the more extreme my anxiety got, until i was in panic attack territory.

I had to learn to understand why I was anxious. And without a therapist this can sometimes be quite difficult. A few things I learnt..

1] My social anxiety stemmed from pretending to be comfortable, loud and overly confident when I was in-fact out of my comfort zone. I learnt I am naturally an introverted, especially at work. My social anxiety disappeared when I learnt to lean back in a crowd group setting without fake smiling and performing.

2] Anxiety when dating became a signal that I had inner work to do. Not that I should just ignore it, or have a shot of tequila to settle the nerves. I used to date men I believed where out of my league, because my confidence was in the gutter. My anxiety led me to building my confidence.

3] Anxious about spending time with family (I learnt this recently) this is a sign that you do not want to be around your family so put a boundary in place. Stop people pleasing. I recently cancelled a family trip to visit me for one week because I knew in my heart it was too long. You have less anxiety when you learn to say no.

4] Anxious friends. This one was huge. When you're dealing with your own battles, and your friends are adding to your anxiety, create space. I'm not suggesting cutting your friends off completely but a little distance from the friends that are causing you anxiety can go along way. One of my best friends would cause me severe anxiety and similarly to the point above I lacked boundaries, and the anxiety was my body signalling this to me.

5] Foods that cause anxious symptoms. For me this was coffee. Despite drinking it for years. My adrenaline was peak as I sipped through my morning oat latte. It took me a very long time to remove this from my life.

I also found the more I was anxious the more anxious life got, it was like a never ending pit of anxiety. Work, relationships, social life, foods, family. Everything was extremely anxious. But little by little I started to clear the things causing the dis-harmony in my life. And slowly but surely the anxiety fell away. I would often wonder if this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach would be with me forever and the answer is no. It will not, it does not. There is hope.

So if you have anxiety, please listen to your body. It's not against you, it's just letting you know in its own language that something is off and once you start doing the work to remove the mis-alignments from your life. You can live in a space where you're free from those chest clenching, throat throttling, gut grabbing feelings.

[starlight-bread-blog]

If humans are "social creatures" then why are that many of us so bad at this? Seems like a design flaw to me.

[justanothershitbagcivilian]

Repeat after me: “I am NOT being chased by a lion. I am making SMALL TALK with a person who is FRIENDLY”

[best-of-theworst]

With my autism subscription package I got an almost unhealthy attention to detail. Combined with my good memory this makes for some awkward conversions.

There have been many situations where someone thought I liked them because I remembered their eye color after the first meeting. Or what they were wearing on a random day. Or their favorite drink, song, whatever.

I'm sorry I'm really not in love with you. I'm just autistic and pay attention...

[amothtoflame]

"you're so quiet" thanks. it's cause every time i open my mouth my heart immediately goes into You're Gonna Fucking Die Mode™

[fretbored34]

Mine cost me my sanity 🤪

[silence-ofdeath]

[autisticfreakshow]

Rsd + social anxiety is shit cause someone misunderstands 1 thing you said then you end up isolating yourself for a week lol

[shamelesslyimpurrfect]

[pleastrop]

one thing I can actually thank my chronic pain for is that it really helped with my social anxiety, like I just HAD to go to so many appointments and see so many different people that I started getting good at it, and it gave me the confidence to be social in other aspects of my life too, and while I'm still dealing with it, it got A LOT better, it did what years and years of therapy and specialist after specialist couldn't, let's go exposure therapy I guess!!