Chronic anxiety is a problem that some 18.1 percent of adults deal with throughout their lives.
If you have anxiety in social situations, this can be quite the blow. You’ll have trouble maintaining romantic and friendship relationships, and will even feel triggered at work and when running errands.
So is there hope? Of course! Here are some strategies that can help you get past your social anxiety issues.
1. Get Some Good Therapy
Going to a professional therapist is something that every single person of all ages can benefit from. We’re beginning to learn more about mental health, and the bottom line is that it should be looked after, just like any other part of your health.
Therapy is useful for any number of things you’re dealing with, whether you need marriage counseling or individual therapy.
By going to a counselor, you’ll have a professional sounding board that can help you get to the root of your anxiety in the first place. Your anxiety may stem from some form of childhood trauma or something you aren’t addressing in your thought life.
2. Start Meditating Today
If you need to develop an overall sense of calm, you should commit to the practice of meditation.
Practicing meditation helps you to find your center so that you can offer more to yourself and the world. There are several spiritual and mental benefits associated with meditation, which is why it is such an amazing practice that everyone can add to their lives.
When you meditate, you should set a timer that lets you just sit and breathe for the duration of the timer, with no attachments. What this does is activate your brain’s reticular activating system (RAS) so that you are better equipped to deal with stress and fight or flight responses.
It also accesses your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for slowing down and calming your body’s energy, rather than ramping it up.
Training with a meditative practice works these “muscles” so that you’re better equipped to deal with your anxiety in the real world.
3. Come Up With an Exercise Plan
One of the best ways to curb your social anxiety is by using exercise to burn off that excess energy.
You won’t have to worry about jitters and the never-ending hamster wheel of anxiety when you’re training your body 5 to 6 times per week. People that exercise regularly have less tension in their bodies and maintain a more stable mood.
What’s more, exercise makes it easier for you to fall asleep each night and restores your body completely. This lets you rise the next morning with calmness and resolve.
4. Watch What You Eat and Drink
Definitely be careful about what you put into your body when you’re trying to keep your anxiety under control.
If you’re always taking in sugar in the form of junk food, flavored coffees, energy drinks, or sodas, you can expect spikes in energy that are difficult to deal with. Eating foods that create heavy insulin spikes will also take a toll on your brain chemicals and make it difficult to focus.
Eating a balanced diet with lots of green foods, fruits, and foods that are high in vitamins and minerals will be best for your mental health.
5. Make Sleep and Rest a Bigger Priority
Sleep will be therapeutic medicine that can keep your anxiety issues at bay. By getting 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night, you’ll dramatically reduce the amount of stress that you’re carrying around with you.
Find some sleep aids that will help you get to bed much quicker at night and also fall into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep cycles with less effort.
You’ll be better able to have a positive mood when you get restorative rest every night.
6. Face Your Social Fears Regularly
Sometimes the best way to face a problem is going through it, rather than around it.
You can face anxiety head-on by putting yourself in the situations that trigger it. For instance, you can add more mixers, meetups, and social events to your calendar.
The more you put yourself in these sorts of social situations, the more normal and less scary they’ll be. A big part of anxiety revolves around a fear of what may or may not happen in the future, or that others may judge you.
By going out more, you’ll have real-life experiences on the best and worst social interactions, so your imagination won’t run as wild.
7. Know Your Triggers and Have Workarounds to Override Them
It’s important that you uncover the things that make you the most nervous. These social anxiety triggers become more predictable when you know what they are.
For instance, one person might have a public speaking phobia while someone else may fear one-on-one interactions with strangers.Other people’s social anxiety kicks in when they’re speaking on subjects they don’t know about and don’t want to appear foolish or uninformed.When you shine a light on these triggers it takes the power from them and allows you to use some constructive workarounds.
Consistently journal about these matters and read about how other people have overcome the same issues.
8. Develop a Gameplan For Dealing With Your Social Anxiety
You don’t have to suffer in silence if you are dealing with social anxiety. The tips above can help you out with even the most crippling forms of anxiety.
We’d love to help you with any kind of therapy-related services you might need.
Reach out to us via our online form or shoot us a text at (317) 559-7325.