Comments on: Proactive and reactive http://www.anxiousliving.com/2006/09/22/proactive-and-reactive/ An Exploration into Social Anxiety Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:14:32 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Aaron http://www.anxiousliving.com/2006/09/22/proactive-and-reactive/comment-page-1/#comment-858 Aaron Wed, 27 Sep 2006 20:51:26 +0000 http://www.anxiousliving.com/2006/09/22/proactive-and-reactive/#comment-858 A habit I picked up at work, where I was on the phone pretty much all day, is asking everyone I have to interact with something basic like, "How are you?" or "How's your day been?". It sounds simple, but I remain surprised the number of times it has smoothed the small social interactions that can cause me stress. A habit I picked up at work, where I was on the phone pretty much all day, is asking everyone I have to interact with something basic like, “How are you?” or “How’s your day been?”. It sounds simple, but I remain surprised the number of times it has smoothed the small social interactions that can cause me stress.

]]> By: Ryan Oelke http://www.anxiousliving.com/2006/09/22/proactive-and-reactive/comment-page-1/#comment-780 Ryan Oelke Sat, 23 Sep 2006 15:32:55 +0000 http://www.anxiousliving.com/2006/09/22/proactive-and-reactive/#comment-780 "For instance, if I was at a party or social function I would stay in the background of conversations or groups and never initiate anything. Then when someone did ask me a question I would usually get that hugh rise in anxiety and the fight or flight response would kick in." Oh man, this is one of my numero uno struggles. And I HATE the feeling of knowing that what I am doing. I recognize that I'm sitting back, holding, which makes me more anxious, feel like others can tell, then I get extrememly anxious when I do speak up, which makes me want to speak less. Being proactive is so helpful, although really hard for me to do sometimes. When I do it, it produces almost entirely opposite results: I feel confident for having initiated conversation, which encourages me to speak up more. What are some other techniques that helped you to get you to be more proactive in social situations? I'm interested to hear so that I can try them out:) “For instance, if I was at a party or social function I would stay in the background of conversations or groups and never initiate anything. Then when someone did ask me a question I would usually get that hugh rise in anxiety and the fight or flight response would kick in.”

Oh man, this is one of my numero uno struggles. And I HATE the feeling of knowing that what I am doing. I recognize that I’m sitting back, holding, which makes me more anxious, feel like others can tell, then I get extrememly anxious when I do speak up, which makes me want to speak less.

Being proactive is so helpful, although really hard for me to do sometimes. When I do it, it produces almost entirely opposite results: I feel confident for having initiated conversation, which encourages me to speak up more.

What are some other techniques that helped you to get you to be more proactive in social situations? I’m interested to hear so that I can try them out:)

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