Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Social Anxiety

I have been making a lot of progress with my social anxiety lately, doing things like:

  • Welcoming visitors at Toastmasters meetings, 
  • Going on hikes with strangers who organize through Meetup, and  
  • Attending yoga classes.
A resource that I find particularly helpful is the book, How to Be Yourself by Ellen Hendriksen. One of the key takeaways for me is this. Don't wait to do the thing that makes you anxious until you are not anxious about it. Rather, do the thing that makes you anxious until you are less anxious about it.

When I first attended Toastmasters meetings, I felt strong anxiety 
  1. Before it was time to leave the house
  2. Before I entered the meeting room
  3. When I might be called to the front to respond to a Table Topic.
Over time, as I have done each of these again and again, the level of anxiety has eased. The first two hardly happen anymore while the third has moderated. There will always be some level of anxiety trying something new, but with repetition, it need not be paralyzing.

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