Social anxiety can be a crippling and debilitating dilemma for those who suffer from it. Just imagine, you are a sufferer of social anxiety and therefore you may feel shy or scared to pay at the counters in restaurants or superstores, you are scared of crowds and groups of people, so you avoid going out to movies or nightclubs.
You even feel scared and anxious to attend classes in university and getting up on the stage to participate in a seminar or drama is just out of the question!
Needless to say, people who suffer from social anxiety disorder become increasingly isolated as they grow older. They have few friends, they are often looked upon as social outcasts or loners and they also lose out on many golden opportunities in life because of their social shyness.
How to overcome this anxiety disorder, therefore, is something that many people who suffer from it always want to know.
How to Overcome Social Anxiety – step # 1
When you are going out to a social situation, say, a party or to a meeting or to a seminar, where you will have to mingle with a crowd, and where you know you will feel uncomfortable, take a trusted friend along with you with whom you will feel safe and comfortable. That person can be your friend or spouse or therapist who will reassure you and help to dispel your anxiety.
How to Overcome Social Anxiety – step # 2
When you find yourself in a social situation, you will do well by observing the situation thoroughly just to check out that there aren’t any palpable dangers anywhere near you, that should scare you. You should also take into consideration your body reactions such as trembling, sweaty palms, racing pulse or heavy breathing. When we can accept the fact that we are feeling uncomfortable in a social situation instead of trying to resist it the experience begins to have less and less of an effect on us.
How to Overcome Social Anxiety – step # 3
Continuously tell yourself that whatever might happen, you will continue to live on, that your life will go on and you won’t die even if you are dead scared or embarrassed. You have to tell yourself and act resilient and that you are supremely capable of dealing with the experience. The people surrounding you aren’t gorgons or monsters or komodo dragons who will eat you up! They are just normal people like you, and God knows, quite a few of them in most cases share your same anxiety and are as scared of crowds and social situations as you are.
How to Overcome Social Anxiety – step # 4
Stay in the social situation for 5 minutes first. If you start feeling too anxious then you should immediately leave the situation and move out into an open space, calm yourself down and then make a reentry. This will help reduce your anxiety.
By: Sarah Elizabeth Smith
About the Author:
To learn how to overcome Social Anxiety naturally and permanently, you can get Sarah’s recommended Self Help course that has already helped over 40,000 people recover from Panic Attacks and Anxiety naturally, by visiting her recommended website for Panic and Anxiety Cures at panicandanxietycenter.com.
