How To Overcome Social Anxiety

We all experience social anxiety to varying degree’s, and that is completely normal. Little bits keep us from making what seems to be an absolute fool of ourselves, but too much and we become too self conscious where it becomes crippling. We might seem and feel awkward to other people, worried they will view us as weird. The truth is that talking to strangers is terrifying, your heart starts pounding, your palms start sweating, it feels like the most difficult thing in the world. Even if someone says “hi”, you might turn your head and ignore them, but not because you want to, but because you feel like you can’t. I’m writing this post as someone who has suffered from social anxiety. How did I treat it? Read on to find out.

There’s a lot of BS out there. There’s a lot of stuff that you’ve probably tried, or you’ve heard friends, family, doctors tell you but it simply doesn’t work. Oh “just relax”, oh “just be yourself”, oh just “stop being nervous”. These all sound easy, and they aren’t wrong in theory, but it just doesn’t work that way. Then you hear tips like “get plenty of rest”, but well it doesn’t fix the underlying issue.

You might experience social anxiety different than the next person and in different situations, but you’re not alone. Many people also get the sweaty palms, shortness of breath, shaky legs. These symptoms are just the tip of the iceberg. The situation that causes us to experience social anxiety might be different as well. One of the biggest things that you’re going to have to do is to practice being social. It might sound obvious, which it is, but it’s sometimes so difficult to start. It’s nerve racking, and terrifying. Some of these tips will help you to reduce it in the easiest and calmest way possible. It might still be scary and uncomfortable, but you are strong and can do it.

Join A Class – By a class I mean something like Yoga, Pilates, or a Martial Arts class. I highly recommend doing Yoga the most out of all of them. It’s a structured environment where you aren’t forced to communicate with people, but all you have to do is follow the teacher. You can choose to try to be social, but it’s really a solo art which makes it easy. Lots of people do get anxiety before going to the class, but you will get used to it the more you go. You might give yourself every excuse in the world not to go, but you need to force yourself. Yoga has many side benefits as well, it teaches you to relax, it teaches you how to breathe properly, loosens up your muscles as well as exercises them. Your physical state will effect your mental state.

Practice Saying Hi – This one sounds simple and it really is until you do it. What you need to do is practice saying hi to people, could be random strangers. If you’re uncomfortable doing that, you can start small and do simple steps like ask for directions. You do not want to use asking for directions as a crutch, but it’s better than nothing. Your goal should be to be able to say hi to even random strangers. One thing that I’ve found helps is to do it in a different city. Yes, I went all the way to a different city because I was too nervous someone I knew would recognize me making a fool of myself even though it’s just saying hi.

Supplements – This is the easiest one on the list. There are some good supplements out there that work, and are safer than prescription drugs. They can really give you the extra edge or push that you need to get you in the right direction. It might make it easier to say “hi” next time that you need. You can’t reach your goal if you do not take the first step. The best supplement that I’d recommend is KalmPro. To see a review on KalmPro, please click here.

Create Something With People – By create something, there are plenty of group classes that you make some sort of object. It might be a woodworking class, or sewing, or maybe even blacksmithing or a cooking class. The possibilities are endless and you can use it as an fun learning opportunity. There are tons of options out there, and unlike Yoga, you are working together with random strangers to accomplish a goal. You are working in a structured environment where no harm will come to you.

Positive Mental Attitude – Positive thinking alone can take you very far. When you have a lot of negative things going on, it’s something’s hard to give a positive outlook to things, but try. You’ll be surprised how much better you will feel when you have a positive outlook on life.

Connect with Others – With your social anxiety, you might feel like nobody understands you. You might feel alone, and it’s understandable where you are coming from. If you can’t speak to people, of course you’re alone. But connecting with friends and family can make you feel secure. You need to have someone to talk to and let out your steam, your thoughts, your feelings. If you feel like you have nobody, you should see a therapist, just so you have someone to talk to. But remember, if you do have a therapist do not hold back, because they’ve heard everything. The absolute worst thing you’ve heard, they’ve heard worse.

While this may not be the most exhaustive list of things that you should do to get rid of social anxiety in the world, these are all real actionable steps that you can start doing today. This is just the tip of the iceberg. To see more and to get a detailed plan on treating your social anxiety, please look at the Anxiety Protocol.