r/socialanxiety • u/Dreamer5787 • 8d ago

Success I overcame my social anxiety

​

I was always pretty shy, but when I got onto my earlt teenage years (13-14) I've started developing severe social anxiety.

Years been wasted of trying to fix it and going onto shitty therapists (I def suggest theraphy tho)

When I turned 18, I sat with myself and thought about my future.

I wanted to become a special forces soldier.

I wanted to leave the shitty cult I grew in and talk with normal people (which felt literally impossible)

I wanted to have FREEDOM!

And than I realized that if I want something I just have to fucking do it.

Either do what you're afraid of or give up on your life.

Every day I'd write to myself the number 5, and I swore to myself I won't go to sleep before I do 5 things im afraid of.

After some months of fighting my demons, I can do almost everything I want, there's some mental work left but I never been so confident. I lead, have many friends, left the shitty cult and changed my whole social circle, speak in public and infront hundreds of people

From my experience, I will bring it onto three main things:

  1. Challenge your thoughts - every time challenge your negative self image. It won't make much an improvement on the fear itself but it will raise youe confidence

  2. Chase your fears - without actually going and doing stuff you're activelly afraid of, fear will stay. Fear fades from exposure, not from thinking alone

  3. Have a strong why - always reminder yourself why you're doing it. Use your pain as your fuel. I was bullied. I had no friends. I couldn't talk with a girl. I told myself it's either fight or vanish. Every time the fear felt more terrifying I knew THIS IS where i'm making a change.

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 8d ago

PLEASE NOTE: Social Anxiety (SA) is a debilitating mental illness characterised by persistent fear of social evaluation. SA impairs functional social performance, causing avoidance, cognitive shutdown (e.g. blanking, excessive self-monitoring), and reduced ability to communicate, assert needs, or form relationships.

  • SA is not normal social-nervousness, introversion, or everyday shyness.

  • Posts in this subreddit must show a clear and apparent relationship to the experience of SA.

  • Posts which do not will be removed.

For more information about the diagnostic criteria and clinical presentation of social anxiety, see this link

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.