Let’s Come Together and Talk About Social Anxiety, Overcoming it in the Process

I’m no expert on mental health, just someone who’s tired of seeing us hold ourselves back.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Our mind can be a sonuvabitch, especially when it comes to creating false narratives about ourselves.

One of the great tragedies is when the mind works its deceptive magic to deprive a person of healthy and fun social interaction. This disheartening manipulation is one version of what we’ve come to call social anxiety.

Call yourself out on your BS

I personally haven’t experienced social anxiety on a severe level, but know people who are stricken by it. And it kills me to see them helplessly give in to thoughts they know are irrational or border on it.

I’ve heard people talk themselves out of much-needed leisure time with friends and family using arbitrary excuses like:
I’m gonna be the oldest one there.
Everyone’s gonna be looking at me, talking about me amongst themselves.
Everyone’s gonna be happy and bragging about their ‘new this’ and ‘new that’, while I’m a loser.
I’m gonna have a panic attack and be embarrassed.
Everybody will see I’m not well and they’re perfectly normal.
And so on.