As a follow-up to my Youtube Video, here are some helpful strategies to help with social anxiety:
-
Practice deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation to help control the anxiety
-
Engage in CBT strategies such as encountering and challenging your unhelpful beliefs (try some of these https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-cognitive-restructuring-3024490)
-
Focus on others around you. This is especially helpful at social gatherings where you can find one or two people and spark up a conversation. Keep the focus on them by inquiring about their lives. This serves two purposes, it will help you develop rapport and it will take your focus off of your thoughts and worries.
-
Practice the very thing you fear. The more you practice talking in front of people the more comfortable you will be. If you learn to avoid these situations you will reinforce that the fear and make these situations worse in the future. When practicing make a list of least feared situations to the most and start with the less feared and work your way down the list the more comfortable you become (use deep breathing or muscle relaxation techniques to help you through these).
-
If your social anxiety is out of control perhaps there is a greater issue underneath that needs to be addressed, seek a therapist that can help you understand it better.
– Wanda @ ReDiscover