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Overcoming Social Anxiety in Professional Life

Hazel

Active member
Joined
Mar 26, 2025
Messages
799
Social anxiety can hinder career growth, making networking or presentations daunting. Gradual exposure and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help. Build confidence through small steps. What techniques have you used to manage social anxiety at work?
 
Overcoming social anxiety in professional life takes patience and practical strategies. I’ve found that gradual exposure, like speaking up in small meetings before larger ones, helps build confidence. Preparing talking points, practicing conversations, and using grounding techniques reduce stress. For example, I once had to give a presentation, and rehearsing it several times with a trusted colleague made the experience manageable. Seeking mentorship or therapy can also provide support. Over time, these steps make professional interactions less intimidating and help maintain career growth without being held back by anxiety.
 
I hate having social anxiety, it's caused me a lot of problems with my life, from my love life to my friendships. I don't go out there to meet new people. Though I am doing dating sites, but even that comes with a lot of anxiety. I was close to meeting a woman I met online, but my anxiety stopped me, and she ended up with someone else. So yeah, the social anxiety has had an affect on me for sure.
 
Well, it is impossible to become anxiety free in your professional life because professional life is stressful. However, what you can do is try managing your anxiety with alternative healing methods like yoga and meditation.
 
Social anxiety can hinder career growth, making networking or presentations daunting. Gradual exposure and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help. Build confidence through small steps. What techniques have you used to manage social anxiety at work?
So, one thing that might help you is a speech club.

One around my area is called Toast Masters. You stand up to make a toast and tell your speech in front of the rest of the people.

It's a bunch of folks who have anxiety about public speaking.

I defeated my anxiety by doing public speaking for my hiking brand. The first one sucked. I bombed it and it was not fun. The next one got a little better. After a while, it wasn't an issue anymore.

And there's benefits at times...

Next month, I'm traveling to the state next to me to do a 30-minute speech about hiking to a group of maybe 300 to 500 people and getting paid around $1,000 for it.
 
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