Anxious Living

Existential Congruency and Social Anxiety

September 11th, 2006 by Ryan Oelke

William’s post, “Social Anxiety in a Public Job“, reminded me of my own similar struggles with working in residence life, a profession involving a great deal of socializing. I responded in much the same way he did, which was to be an actor of sorts, and as with William it left me feeling very drained. It was even more pronounced as I could not easily separate the job and my personal life as the position of a residence hall director is not a 9-5 job, and for three out of the four years I lived right where I worked, in the hall.
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Notecards - Affirmations

September 8th, 2006 by dashh

Ryan’s post a while back on notecards got me thinking about my own use of them to help with my social anxiety. I used to be very skeptical (and probably still am to some extent) of affirmations and many times they just seem like a phony or superficial way to deal with certain issues. But one technique I have been using over the years to help me deal with my social anxiety issues is to read over certain statements daily. I wrote several statements down on notecards that I keep in my wallet and that I read over everyday to let myself (and my brain) know that SA does not have to keep me from engaging in life.

The cards help me to recognize my automatic negative thinking (ANTs), to remember to use the ‘slow talk’ technique I posted about previously and I actually have a few cards I can read over for specific, high anxiety situations like a party, etc. I also have a few quick statements, which I guess are more similar to affirmations such as the following:

- Be proactive, take the initiative and “act” confidently

- Stop the thinking and start the doing.

- Action leads to motivation.

- If I don’t do something nothing is going to change.

- The secret to getting ahead is getting started.

- Analysis equals paralysis.

I have gotten these mainly from Dr. Richards Overcoming Social Anxiety program, which my society anxiety support group followed. Of course I can’t say for sure that reading over these statements have made a change in my social anxiety since there are many other things I have been doing over the years, but over time with practice it does seem that my anxiety is slowly fading into the background.

Has anyone out there used similar techniques?

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The Joy of Small Victories

September 6th, 2006 by Aaron

I feel like taking a breather from picking apart SAD to point out a fringe benefit of being socially anxious.

Just the other night I was lucky enough to feel the thrill of a simple victory most would take for granted. And not only was it thrilling as it happened, but it allowed me to bask in good will towards myself for an entire evening.

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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. Read the rest of this entry »

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