Posted by TexasChic on March 18, 2004, at 15:39:35
In reply to Problem, posted by Sebastian on March 16, 2004, at 22:05:55
Oh, I've so experienced that. Its social anxiety. I'm not totally over it, but I've come a long way. The hardest part was taking that first step and talking to someone. Even if you come off totally lame, most people will comiserate with your nervousness. If they don't, they weren't worth talking to anyway. It helps to have some small talk memorized too. You might start off with just a 'hi'. Decide before you go you are going to say 'hi' to 3 people, then just work up to more as you feel more comfortable. You can scare yourself by thinking you have to be a sparkling conversationalist. Just start small and make goals for yourself. It works!
Try to remember these are people just like you, and their opinions of you are not as important as we make them out to be. Its just our minds playing tricks on us, making us think we must have the acceptance of EVERYONE. That's just not going to happen and there's nothing we can do about it. Once you let that go, life is so much easier.
Good luck!
poster:TexasChic
thread:325111
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040316/msgs/325737.html