Anxious Living

Deception of Plateauing in Social Anxiety

September 4th, 2006 by Ryan Oelke

I’ve yet to overcome social anxiety completely, far from it. Yet, I have progressed a great deal and have reached a plateau where I generally experience anxiety around a 1-5 range, on a scale of 10, 99% of the time. However, in the last year I haven’t really been put into major situations that would really fire up my anxiety, but I am experiencing a lower level of anxiety in every day life.
The problem is that all of this is very deceptive. I have become a bit complacent in really challenging myself to practice simply because I have reached a comfortable “enough” space. Yet, I notice plenty the anxiety I do experience which still very much interferes with activities and relationships, just less intensely. The Social Anxiety Workbook makes a point of encouraging you to set simple yet very concrete goals, and to regularly do “homework” (practice, or whatever you’d like to call it). I’m very much a believer that you must do something consciously in order to realize change, regardless of what the change is about. Otherwise, it’s a hit-and-miss, which most likely means you’ll simply stay where you are with SAD. So, I’m a bit stuck in my motivation. In the past, I had much more high intensity triggers to push me to realize change, but that’s not always the best time to work on SAD. Better is to practice when things are not so anxious, but it’s so easy for me to do nothing.

Have you experienced something similar in working with SAD? What have you done to move beyond plateaus?

Posted in Goals, Motivation, Ryan, Social Anxiety|Subscribe |Comments Feed| 2 Comments »

               

2 Responses to “Deception of Plateauing in Social Anxiety”

1. duff wrote on 09/8/06 at 1:22 pm :

   I often find myself on such plateaus. Sometimes it’s just right to rest on the plateau, especially for folks like me who tend to push ourselves too hard all the time. But complacency is also a danger.

   I find that when I’m ready for challenge again, I do some visioning and goal-setting. If I set challenging enough goals, lo and behold I find the “hidden” fears and anxieties that I didn’t even know were there!

2. Ryan Oelke wrote on 09/11/06 at 2:25 pm :

   Yeah, I struggle to find the balance or knowing when is a time to push or when to relax with it (on a side note I’ve noticed that I’ve become rather indesicive in a general sense, to a point of frustration. so that’s probably related). I tend to push myself hard in realizing goals and my potential, so I also try to watch out for that. I think now that school has started back up for me, I’ll have more socializing which will let me know what I need or don’t need to do.

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