Are you blushing a lot for no reason? This might be a symptom of social anxiety. Learn how to overcome social anxiety with these tips, often instructed by professionals.
Life with social anxiety disorder can be extremely hard. Any social interaction might have an overwhelming influence on you, from trembling, and dizziness, to being afraid of rejection or even criticism. If not treated in time, social anxiety can harm your day-to-day life. Making it extremely difficult to engage in daily chores, like:
- Eating Out
- Attending Classes
- Going on Dates
- Interactions with your Colleagues
- Or even, Buying Groceries
Trying to manage social anxiety can be extremely overwhelming from time to time. And it doesn’t mean simply tossing yourself in the crowd and gulping down the bitterness from within, but you need to remember that it is an achievable goal. You just need to know what are the ways to overcome this disorder and soon, you might not feel as overwhelmed as you feel now. To begin with, here are some common symptoms of social anxiety and some general fixes to soothe your anxiety:
- Common Symptoms of Social Anxiety:
- Blushing Excessively
- Fast heartbeat
- Trembling
- Sweating
- Upset stomach or nausea
- Trouble catching your breath
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Feeling that your mind has gone blank
- Muscle tension
These are some of the most common symptoms of social anxiety. But with a few regular practices, you can overcome these primitive signs and prevent your social anxiety from taking a toll on your day-to-day life.
- How to Calm Social Anxiousness
- Follow the 4-7-8 breathing techniques
- Start by inhaling slowly through your nose for a count of 4 seconds.
- Hold the breath for 7 seconds.
- Then, exhale slowly for a count of 8 seconds.
This breathing technique can help you in any crowded place no one will know whether you are following a technique to soothe your anxiety, to elevate the effects, you can perform some regular practices that will help you have a calmer mind:
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- Slowly tense each group of muscles in your body, beginning with your toes.
- Hold the tension for 5 seconds
- And then release the muscle particular muscle while exhaling.
- Focus on the new looseness in your muscles for a count of 10 seconds, breathing slowly.
- Move on to the next muscle group and repeat a similar technique.
Apart from Progressive Muscle Relaxation and 4-7-8 breathing techniques, you need to also make sure that you exercise for at least 30 minutes to release all the good hormones in your body. Regular exercises can boost your mood. Also, make sure that you reduce alcohol intake, if you are a smoker then going low on smoking might help you to achieve progress sooner. Apart from these techniques, you can also vouch for the following aspects to cure your social anxiety disorder:
- Go to a Therapist
First, acknowledge that shyness and social anxiety are not the same thing. A shy person might not be trembling when they are talking to a stranger, whereas a socially anxious person will. Going to a therapist might change your life and can liberate you from your ocean of feeling overwhelmed.
- Discover Triggering Situations
From going for a job interview to meeting a stranger who asks for your number, you need to understand which scenario triggers you the most. Point them down and write them up in your journal, and the next step is to find solutions to empower your thoughts when you start to feel anxious.
- Confront Negative thoughts
Even therapists will ask you to practice this. As a socially anxious person, you might feel the following worries most of the time:
- Accidentally saying something rude
- Wrongly pronouncing a word
- Being clumsy with things like food or drinks
- Laughing, sneezing, or coughing at the wrong time or place
- Getting sick in front of others
If these incidents discomfort you then you might start regarding them as simple human mistakes. Whenever you say something rude unwontedly, explain your thoughts with the humor you have always been keeping under your skin. And for other instances just say sorry, and move on without overthinking it. Take small steps and you will achieve your goal sooner than you have expected.
Smaller step matters the most- Here are some small steps that will help you to gain more power over your social anxiety.
- Play out fake scenarios with your trusted friend or family member
- Raise your hand in class to answer a question or just to ask something
- Compliment your co-worker or your classmates
- Take the wrong name and let others correct you
- Host or attend small gatherings
- Practice Social Kindness
These are some of the few techniques that will help you to get better. And help you to feel less overwhelmed by situations. It is always useful to point out the signs and go for professional help and get better with proper guidance. But, these useful tips will also help you to get better and calm yourself down.
