Coping with Social Anxiety

[The People]

Some of us are very social once we are out into a situation. However, as we prepare to go we are practically gasping for air. Tomorrow we are taking part in a fundraiser for the homeless. 'Coldest Night of the Year.' We will be part of a group. Those who like to socialize look forward to it but those who hate going into social events are very nervous.

If the root person had remained a monomind w/o the hell she went through she would have always been the social person she was as a small child. Alas, some came forward in a state of high anxiety.

I know there are others with this issue and IMO anxiety is a cornerstone of DID. I am an extrovert but since I stopped working my social anxiety has grown like mold around a leaky bathtub.

How do you get past that? Just do it?

https://digitalsynopsis.com/advertising/nike-just-do-it-possibilities/

[mosaic]

we have found that "just doing it" is all we can do. and we have learned that when we do, the anxiety doesn't last forever. i'm a strong introvert and social anxiety is very strong for me. i'm going to a workshop today where i only know one person - and that is very anxiety producing. but i know if i give in to the anxiety it will be stronger next time... and i will miss out on the workshop opportunity.

anxiety, in my experience, never goes away. it shows up at the worst times but it doesn't stay forever. but, as MDs used to say, YMMV.

[The People]

That is true. I remember once when I didn't have a car and I was walking to Safeway. Mosaic. Something happened. Not major, just tacky. The next time I walked that route I panicked so badly it was like I would die.I was going to turn and go back home. Run. Only a voice told me if I did that it would be harder next time. So I kept going. 1 tally in the win box.

Thanks, Mosaic.I hope it went well for you.

[Cammy]

Oddly enough I used to be so shy I could barely go out in public and I couldn't even sit in a waiting room. SOMEWHERE along the way I've lost all my self-consciousness - like TOTALLY lost it. Now I couldn't care a fig whose looking or not, or what people are saying. I have NO IDEA how this happened, but it just happened, and I've got to say - I'm a MUCH HAPPIER person for it. I look like a frigging freak to boot - but I just don't care. I'm just so into being my inner self (selves) that I've found it too liberating to care about other people's opinions. Let them stare or not ... it just doesn't matter to me anymore. It's almost like I've stopped giving other people permission to control me by me being self-conscious at such a crippling level. I guess I just got tired of it, and BOOM ... it went away. My hubby is super self-conscious. I wish I could teach him how not to be, but it is what it is. My most ardent wish for him (and for anyone who suffers like this), is that they too can find the liberation of not caring what other people think. It's a pity that it's not something that can be taught. It pains me to see him so uncomfortable.