Social Anxiety Tips to Help Cope
When you feel like a social outcast, you often suffer from something called social anxiety. Going out into the public world and coping with who you truly are can become a challenge. The following article will give you some sound advice to help cope with social anxiety.
The first step to coping with social anxiety is identifying the underlying cause. Some people suffer from this type of anxiety due to childhood traumatic situations. Others may suffer from social anxiety due in part to self-esteem issues or the way they perceive themselves. The only way you can start to cope with this problem is to identify what causes it. When you figure out where this anxiety started, you can work towards dealing with it using a tailored fit.
Taking deep breaths or using deep breathing exercises can decrease stress levels before entering a social scene. Deep breathing creates a sense of calmness and helps keep the nerves calm before interaction with others. If you feel that the situation you are going to be in is provocative, take some deep breaths.Baby steps are what will get you towards your goal.
No one can overcome social anxiety in giant leaps. It takes time and energy to work yourself up to the point of being comfortable in a social setting. For example, if your goal is to attend a large party, practice by attending small gatherings or get-togethers.You can make social anxiety worse by the mental messages that you send yourself. People who often feel like outcasts make things worse by sending themselves bad messages. Instead of making your situation worse, make it right by giving yourself an inner pep talk.
You will feel better about yourself when you start treating the inner you the right way.Enter social situations with someone you trust. When you first get out into social situations, you ultimately feel anxiety, especially when you don’t know anyone. You can decrease the anxiety you suffer from by attending social gatherings with someone you know. A sense of comfort will ease your mind as you interact with someone that you personally know.
Positive affirmations often help people with social anxiety. Unfortunately, there are many instances where you can’t just choose not to attend a social gathering. Things like public presentations, giving class reports or performing work duties are not optional. Instead of calling sick or feeling awkward, write positive affirmations on note cards to make light of an anxiety ridden situation.If all else fails, fake it! Faking confidence when you feel social anxiety is often a simple, but effective cure.
Exude confidence, even if you don’t feel it. Oftentimes, you will end up tricking others and eventually, you will realize that a situation isn’t as bad as you anticipated it to be in the beginning.Don’t focus on your anxiety. When you start to feel anxious in any number of situations, distract your mind. It helps to think about something random that doesn’t make you feel stressed out.
For example, thinking about lunch tomorrow or what you want to do at home will help you temporarily cope with your anxiety.Coping is something that we all have to do in this world. Hopefully, this article has given you some solid pointers to help reduce your social anxiety. Use the tips from the article above to regain your confidence and feel less awkward in social situations.
