Social Anxiety

I have severe social anxiety, or it used to be severe "past" tense.
Nowadays it is only mild.

I guess shutting myself away from people and not socialising brought it out?
That people and the noise gets me irky and nervous like.

 

I have social anxiety as well. They mostly occur when I am at interviews, appointments, meetings about college, or meeting new people in general for at least 5-10 minutes. I tend to either tear up or sweat a lot. Which is a huge issue of me o-o' I went to an appointment on Thursday since my mom has noticed I have had trouble socializing with others in real life. So, she assigned me to see a doctor to see what is going on. Apparently, Social Anxiety Disorder appears to be one of them.

 

Mmmn, I think I might have it. But a very, very, very odd version of it.

I don't get nervous when I'm around people. I can talk my head off and be perfectly comfortable. However, whenever I'm done with my conversations or done hanging out with people, then I start to panic about silly things. I used to never do this until recently.

For example: I'll wear a cute dress that shows a little cleavage, (Not too revealing though)but if I recall bending over to pick up something in front of people (especially men) I'll panic. Or if I wear a skirt and it's windy outside, I'll panic even though I made absolutely sure that nothing showed. I'll also have irrational fears about having BO, even though there is no way in hello that I was ever smelly to begin with. (Hygiene is huge for me, I wouldn't leave the house without being clean from head to toe.) Other things involving appearances and how I carry myself causes me to freak out after everything has been done.

Very strange. But the way my clothes are for that day will definitely determine if I freak out or not over night.

 

I have terrible social anxiety. It's been getting better over the years, but it's still difficult for me to be social for fear of the worst happening. Honestly, even online, my social anxiety gets the better of me, which is why I may appear to be unfriendly or shy. There's absolutely no reason to because who would really pay that close attention to every little mistake? No one, but my brain keeps telling me that someone is judging me.
Even today, I was running a bit late to class and I was worried that the entire class would judge me as I walked in with my loud flip flops. Luckily, as I sat down, that anxiety went away for a bit.

 

I am not sure if I have this problem - at least, not that I've noticed. While I don't really like being in social situations in general, I feel the least that I can or should do is to put on a brave face for the time being, even though I'd rather be somewhere else and/or not talking with someone. I'm good at listening so I tend to get away with that, but I do not perform well in any social situation in which there's 6 or more people around at once.

I have noticed, however, that I do have issues with making eye contact. When out in the world there are so many things moving about that they catch my attention, and my eyes will flicker away for a brief moment. That, and I like to be aware of my surroundings at all times, so my eyes will dart about largely as a safety precaution. It is largely unneeded, but it's also a habit, and those don't dissipate quite so easily.

 

Oh yes, super bad :x I get nervous because I'm afraid of messing up and making a bad impression, but ironically my fear causes me to mess up anyway.
This is mostly with online communication, I'm fine irl

 

Talking in public is a huge problem for me. Whether it is just answering a question in class or giving a presentation I start flushing, stuttering and I just fall silent after trying to force the words out of my mouth. I used to beat myself up for it, but I am getting better at it.

It is less when I spend more time with my classmates, but I wish I could just answer a question without it.

 

I have anxiety issues in general, not necessarily tied to social situations specifically. Usually I'm fine while in public, because I just stick to doing my own thing while watching out for others to make sure I don't disrupt anyone. If something happens that upsets my schedule when in public, though, I freeze up and don't know what to do. This can be as simple as a stranger suddenly asking a question, as it shakes me out of my personal state of concentration and forces me to focus on something uncomfortable. Conversations in general I can handle, but sudden questions and things that I personally do not feel comfortable talking about trigger my anxiety and can lead to a panic attack if it gets bad enough.

I do have methods with dealing with my anxiety, though- as I refuse to go on anti-anxiety medication (I'm already on one certain medication for the rest of my life, I don't want to depend on anything I don't have to). It's kind of hard to describe them as they're personal coping methods I've developed over the years, but focusing my senses does tend to help with my anxiety. When I'm anxious, sometimes I become desensitized to the environment and can start to feel like I don't exist, which can trigger worse panic attacks. Focusing my vision on something that I can see and touching my surroundings can help to ground me and prevent panic attacks. That's just something that works for me.

 

My social anxiety is horrendous. I have difficulty getting my thoughts across without stuttering or pausing, and I often feel that the things I say make me look stupid, even though they almost always don't :x To top it off, I have difficulty contacting people/keeping in touch unless I'm close to them. I dread making phones calls–even if I'm just making appointments–and I frequently find myself unable to approach people when I have problems. That being said, I usually don't have problems answering questions in class, though I still stutter and sometimes forget what I was going to say, and I can often talk with my superiors (such as professors) just fine.

Online, I find it much easier to interact with people in public settings (such as forums) and have more difficulty conversing in one-on-one interactions or in group conversations (unless I happen to know a majority of the people). What sucks is that my anxiety makes it troublesome to RP, as I frequently finding myself doubting that fellow RPers will respond to my posts if I don't know them well.

That being said, I am trying hard to overcome my anxiety, especially online. I definitely think I've become less anxious than I was four or so years ago, but I still have plenty ways to go.

 

I have my social anxiety mostly under control. Aside from an increased heart rate whenever I get called on in class, I don't burst out crying or anything.

I do struggle with it when driving a car. For some reason, I feel so attacked and vulnerable that I freak out at the tiniest thing that goes wrong (or even not perfect). If anyone in the car makes a sigh or another move or sound that might mean they gave critique, I shut down. I'd be trembling too much to continue driving.

Needless to say, it's been a year since I have driven a car.

 

I suppose I feel somewhat anxious around people, but especially what they think about me. I would like people to think I am an intelligent, well-mannered and polite person who doesn't act 'crazy'. I mostly fear teacher's opinions on me, however, because I respect all my teachers so much and I want them to think of me as a polite and good student, enthusiastic for school. I am shy, and I do stutter when around people. I tend not to talk very often, because I am a quiet (yet fun) person and I do not want to start a situation because of what I said.

 

I had that problem but now its gone. I used to stress myself about what people think of me but now i dont. I do my best and show what i am really is and let people think what they want to.

 

I've got it, and pretty bad too. Even when I'm out shopping, 90% of the time I'll ask a companion to buy it for me because I'm too nervous to speak to the cashier. I've got a few friends I'm comfortable with IRL, and you guys are all great, but I think after what I did one day last year, my fears are slowly dying down.

So, for an English assignment we had to create a persuasive essay, and there were many research-based topics to choose from. None of them interested me, but there were a few personal arguments we could present, and one of them, "How would I make a good superhero", caught my eye. But I didn't want this to just be some old boring oral, I wanted to prove to my teacher and class that I could make a good superhero. Then it came to me. Looking back, I don't even know why I thought of this plan, but I'm glad I did.

One of my points about being a good superhero was that they were brave. To prove this bravery, not only did I go first on the day of the oral presentations... I did it in a Pikachu onesie. That was too small. After I had presented, I rushed off to the bathroom to take off the onesie, and I couldn't stop shaking with the fear and exhilaration of what I had done for the rest of the 90 minute lesson. To this day, thinking about it makes me start shaking again (I'm shaking as I type this, hehe), but I did get an A for the presentation and my confidence has been boosted a bit. However, if I'm asking you to come shopping with me, it's because I'm still too afraid to make small-talk with the cashier.

 

I can't believe everyone here seems to know the feeling of social anxiety, I almost thought I was the only one. I felt really touched reading everyone's stories because I know the feeling all too well, I had to take a day to reflect on myself before coming back to this thread.

Social anxiety as you guys have already described is such an awful feeling/challenge that some of us have to face and others never seem to understand. I have severe social anxiety and honestly it drives me insane with how much it limits me from hanging out with friends to having a normal conversation. I hate it, and I wish it was easy to explain but it isn't. Remember, shyness and social anxiety may seem similar, but they aren't the same thing, one is much more excruciating. ; ; I've been trying to get better at my social anxiety but...