Authors

Ryan Oelke

I have been married for a little over four years. In May of 2005 I graduated with a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK), but realized in my last year that I did not want to be a mental health practitioner (I loved the education and experience, just not my perfect fit). I strongly considered becoming a life coach and have researched quite a bit into the profession. Although I am not currently pursuing that, it’s possible at some point it will be part of my life. Afterwards I took a position as a professional residence hall director (HD) at the University of Colorado at Boulder, coming from a graduate HD position at UNK. I am currently in a temporary six-month position as a judicial assistant/hearing officer, handling student policy violations. In undergrad I majored in music performance, sound engineering, and Spanish, and was a resident advisor for three years. Finally, I have found my home and path in a master’s program at Naropa University, studying Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with Tibetan and Sanskrit languages. I also have a passion for writing and am currently involved in several writing projects (including Anxious Living).

In addition to writing on Anxious Living, I am a co-founder, author, and audio geek of Buddhist Geeks. I also blog at Integral Awakening. Visit my personal site for information on my services of Productivity Coaching, Audio Production, and Writing.

My Zaadz profile.

Read about my social anxiety experience in my introduction post.

Aaron

I live in Los Angeles and am currently struggling to transition from office work to full time writing. I’ve moved around a fair amount, living in Las Vegas, St. Louis, Orange Country and various other places.

I’ve been to college and graduate school. I’ve worked data entry, taken inventory, and worked for a company that created hand held travel guides sold on QVC. For the last four years I ran a small office for a woman who is a manager/producer in the entertainment industry.

Much of my life has been spent trying to pursue my goals, dreams and interests in a way that will not draw too much attention, while still letting me actually make the effort. It is why the transition to writing is anything but smooth. Every day I have to deal with the same troubles: fear of rejection, catastrophic thinking, a perfectionism that often leads to inaction.

While I may have always known something was going on, it is only recently that I understood I had social anxiety and needed to start talking about it. I began exchanging emails with a fellow sufferer and it has made an amazing difference.

There were so many aspects of my experience that I had never shared with anyone. It is a relief to tell someone about the agitated internal mess I often am.

I know change does not happen fast. And a change to something as deeply ingrained as SAD is sure to proceed very slowly. I am still dealing every day with anxious thoughts and behaviors. But there are great benefits to reading and exchanging thoughts on SAD, continual reminders of what is going on, what is triggering you, which stories you are telling yourself, and how there are techniques that help.

I’m happy to be able to talk in this forum about every aspect of SAD and to hear from anyone who has anything they would like to share.

I have another blog called Still Seeking and a profile on Zaadz.

Shawn

Hello all, I’m Shawn and I live in Raleigh, NC. I want to share a little about my past and present in general and as it relates to social anxiety and social anxiety disorder. I currently work in the accounting and finance field for a small healthcare technology company. I have worked in accounting off and on for ten years and had a brief stint in graduate school studying physical therapy at Duke University. I’m very interesting in psychology, philosophy and meditation and would like to pursue graduate studies in psychology and possibly cognitive neuroscience/philosophy in the future.

I spend a lot of time reading and checking out any and everything online. I have a blog called, Dashh: A Day In The Integral Life where I explore how I try to live a more complete and integrated life through practice and engaging my body, mind and spirit with friends, family and the world. I enjoy working out, psychotherapy, Zen meditation (zazen), reading/studying Buddhist teachings (Buddhadharma) and writing. I strive to live a more balanced life and to help others do the same in any way I can.

My experience with social anxiety disorder and depression began to take hold during my first few years of college and have been with me ever since. I became aware of SAD around 5 years ago when I sought out therapy after a relationship ended badly for me. Once I found out what exactly I had been experiencing all those years it sent waves of relief and hope through me. It was that Eureka! moment that began the journey of my commitment to increasing my knowledge and awareness of this condition which brings so much suffering to so many.

After years of seeing a therapist and doing my own work I have come a long way on that journey, but there is always more path to tend to. Social anxiety will probably always be with me to some extent, but it has slowly dissipated in strength and power over my life. I plan to share with you how I have made progress with many steps forward and how I have taken a few steps back. So join me, Ryan and Aaron as we share and explore the impact of social anxiety disorder in our lives – our paths through and beyond Anxious Living.