Tips on How to Overcome Social Anxiety
In this blog we will be talking about tips on how to overcome social anxiety. Social anxiety is common and it estimated that 7% of adults in the US struggle with this disorder in any given year and 12% of adults struggle with social anxiety at some point in their lives (National Institute of Mental Health). Many people go many years without knowing what social anxiety is and how to manage it. We will highlight five tips on how overcome social anxiety in this blog.
The first Tip is to ask yourself, who can be in your support system? It is important for our close friends and family members to know we are struggling with social anxiety. Hopefully, they can be part of our support system. They can be helpful by providing us with. Positive words or actions. Our support system reminds us to use our coping skills and even be a healthy distraction from social anxiety.
Second suggestion to overcome social anxiety by tracking our triggers. For example, when are we most anxious? In large crowds, at work, or other certain places? It is important to know what our main triggers are for social anxiety. If we can recognize our triggers, then we can be better prepared to manage social anxiety. Usually there is a pattern of triggers for most people with social anxiety. I would encourage you to notice in a regular week, what are the days and times your anxiety is more likely to spike? This can give you very helpful information that can lead to better management and hopefully to overcome social anxiety.
Even though it can be challenging to find harmony and calm within our bodies when we are anxious, it is one of the most helpful things we could do for ourselves. People find harmony in their bodies through many methods. For example, some people will use physical activities such walking to relax their bodies. Moreover, many people with social anxiety find that tools such as mindfulness and deep breathing also help relax their body and bring down their anxiety in social settings. Another common coping skill for social anxiety is managing negative or unhelpful thoughts. Our thoughts impact our body feels and if we could learn to manage unhelpful thoughts, this usually relaxes our body as well.
Discovering your own coping skills can take time. It usually takes time and practice to find your best strategies to manage social anxiety. Unfortunately, many people give up on coping skills after only trying them 1-2 times. Some examples of coping skills for social anxiety include CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. With CBT, we target thoughts and how thoughts impact behaviors such as avoiding social interactions or settings. With CBT you can also learn to challenge and replace unhelpful thought that may be worsening your anxiety.
It is important that you find a therapist that works with social anxiety to help you discover your own coping skills. Everyone is unique and needs to find their own strategies. Lastly, it may be helpful to consider what has been helpful in the past in managing your social anxiety. If you can reflect on what has been helpful in the past, this can give you great insight on what may be helpful now in the present. Making time for reflection can give helpful information. You can make time for this reflection by journaling, meditating, or even praying. Making space for your mind and body to find the answers is a great way to manage social anxiety.
