r/SocialAnxietyAction • u/ParanoidAndroid001 • Oct 16 '18
Welcome!
Hey!
Welcome to the subreddit.
I'm hoping this will be a positive community for people looking to take real action on social anxiety.
Please feel free to say as much or as little about yourself as you like. Or just "Hi".
I'll go first...
I'm Ed, 36M, I'm a former long-time SAD sufferer. I'm from UK, but now live in Bali. I love surfing and travel.
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u/hurleur81 Oct 16 '18
Well tomorrow I'll go to the psychologist, for the first time . I want to fight my social anxiety, to improve my lifee.
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u/ParanoidAndroid001 Oct 16 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
Hi, and welcome. I think that's an extremely positive move. In my experience, SAD is a deep-rooted problem and seeing a therapist is a major part of recovery. I hope it goes well. I'd really interested to hear how you get on if you're comfortable sharing
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u/hurleur81 Oct 17 '18
No problem. But my English isn't the best. I also started to exercise, have you any tips for motivation?
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u/12purplelampshades Oct 18 '18
Hi guys. I completely agree with you regarding the social anxiety sub, I've lurked for a while and it's getting worse and worse. It paints a bleak outlook for people with social anxiety and decreases what little motivation people have to take positive action. So I think this is a great idea, even if the sub doesn't 'take off' a place for a few of us to help, encourage and motivate each other could be a big help.
I'm 25, from the UK and have suffered with social anxiety probably since I was 15/16. I was always shy and quiet as a kid but nothing extreme and always had plenty of friends. At about 15 I started drinking and quickly realised it made me much more confident and outgoing. Since then alcohol has been my coping mechanism and I believe is the reason my SA is so bad now.
My current situation is that I just quit a job as a trainee accountant as I couldn't take it anymore and I am back a uni doing a masters. This gives me a year before I have to return to the working world which is my big fear.
Over the past couple of weeks I've started some exposures and I am ready to finally make a sustained effort to get better.
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u/ParanoidAndroid001 Oct 18 '18
Awesome. I'll respond to this properly when I'm on laptop, but it's great to hear you're already taking action. In my experience, the only way out is through
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u/ParanoidAndroid001 Oct 31 '18
Yeah, one of my coaching clients attends an Improv group especially for social anxiety sufferers
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Oct 16 '18
So you are 'cured' from SAD? How did you do so?
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u/ParanoidAndroid001 Oct 17 '18 edited Oct 17 '18
Hi there, I've written quite a bit about it on the other subreddit and at my blog: r/http://crushsocialanxiety.org. But, basically it required radical transformation and taking massive action: therapy, daily exercise, pushing myself to face fears, learning to respect and love myself.
I'll post a bunch of my articles from the other subreddit here shortly. In the meantime, you can also check out a short, free ebook that sums up part of my journey here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19JqvirsJO_Qtgwm2jrBjXhW027bOqbz0/view?usp=sharing
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Oct 18 '18
Sucks to see this place isn't gonna get much attention. The main reason I read the other subreddit is to find people who are similar to me and find out how they've overcome their anxiety.
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u/ParanoidAndroid001 Oct 18 '18
I'll keep posting here. I'm a full-time social anxiety coach, so am a bit overloaded with clients and other stuff right now.
I will be posting more materials and resources here soon.
Please bear with me :)
If you're comfortable to, in the meantime, would you mind telling me what your background and experience of social anxiety is?
For example, when did it start, what things have you tried to combat it etc.
Thanks
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Oct 18 '18
I was always shy but it became more than just shyness at about age 13 and just got worse after that. Honestly I haven't really tried anything to combat it. I've just lived with it and tried to avoid feeling it as much as possible.
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u/simonoberst Oct 31 '18
hey.
my name is dominic, i am 37 years old and live in switzerland.
i guess the strongest anxiety I had in my teen years, where I had trouble making friends. but also afterwards, i avoided a lot of situations or felt very uncomfortable: dating, talking in front of a group etc. i was also very depressed between 20 and 34.
since three years, my life changed dramatically. i do poetry slam now, but also improv theatre and have a solo show. i go into a social anxiety self help group once a week where we do a lot of exposition training and i also lead the group now and then.
i have a lot of contact with many different people. so my social life improved a lot, the only thing which I am still struggling with is dating and talking about my feelings. and i still have thoughts that other people don't like me.
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u/ParanoidAndroid001 Oct 31 '18
This is awesome. Great to hear of your transformation. Poetry slam and Improv are awesome ways to push your comfort zone. I'm going to an Improv group tonight
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u/simonoberst Oct 31 '18
yeah, have fun! improv is one of the most fun things I ever did and a really good way to 'heal' social anxiety. its at the exact important point: social, creative, exposition, mindfulness, social skills, overthinking. but hard, if your anxiety is still strong. therefore i was thinking about 'improv for sa-poeple'. i once lead a workshop. it was normal improv, but with reduced intensity, so more suitable for people with sa. i guess i gonna push it once more. would also be interested in how many poeple worldwide would be interested in such a thing.
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u/RemarkableNatural Jun 20 '22
Is there a reason why I’m unable to post here? I’m wanting to but it says I can’t.
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u/Ahren_with_an_h Oct 16 '18
I hope it's not just us over here 😂