Coping with Social Anxiety: Practical Tips

[Hazel]

Social anxiety can be tough, but exposure therapy helps. Start small. What strategies ease your social fears? How do you handle gatherings?

 

[Shree]

Coping with social anxiety starts with small steps, deep breathing, preparing ahead, and challenging negative thoughts. I’ve found practicing in low-pressure settings and celebrating small wins helps.

 

[Brem]

Social anxiety sucks, but I think the only thing that can really help is exposure therapy and maybe seeing a therapist. For me, I found that just pushing myself is the best way to get through it. I worked a tech support job at a call center years ago and with my social anxiety that was a rough one. My first day I almost quit because of the anxiety from it. It didn't help that a lot of the customers I talked to were elderly people who made mistakes on orders that couldn't be changed. I stuck with it and survived. It was a temp job, but felt like it went on forever. I hated it.

But, I found I did become more comfortable on the phone. I still hate talking on the phone, but it's much easier than it used to be for me. And I think it's because of that exposure to it that helped me.

 

[Kera]

I think that social anxiety is always caused by excessive self-consciousness. When once we can disrupt our minds to always deflect the attention of our minds from ourselves to others when we are having encounters with them, we would be making strong moves to overcome social anxiety.

 

[Nomad]

I have social anxiety, it is not very severe but I do feel very uncomfortable to meet new people, go to a public gathering. I haven't tried getting help yet, and I haven't tried over coming this. Not being social has sometime cost me but there are things that you cannot shake off no matter what.

 

[Hazel]

I don’t have social anxiety, but many people find it helpful to start with smaller gatherings, prepare a few conversation topics in advance, and take short breaks if they feel overwhelmed. Gradual exposure, self-compassion, and practicing social situations over time can help build confidence.