For those of us with Social Anxiety, fear of failure, fear of not fitting in, and fear of anything you can mention holds us back from being able to be ourselves in the workplace. We are suspicious of those who ignore us, get angry at those who funnily look at us, and feel uneasy in front of a group of people.
So I guess you’re unlikely to believe someone who says that despite social anxiety, you can be happy at work and give you tips and ideas.
An interview with a clinical and counseling psychologist about social anxiety
In this interview, Raju Akon (Clinical & Counseling psychologist) from www.newhopepsychology.com shares his insights into how you can be happy at the workplace:
- Why feelings matter
- Why do we find it hard to judge what truly makes us happy
- Why a one-sentence journal can put you on the right path to happiness
- How reflection is your best friend when you want to increase your satisfaction and effectiveness at work
- The little-known truth why you and work don’t work
- How your attitude measures your level of satisfaction at work
- What are superpowers, and why do you need to find yours
- The myth that working on your weakness brings you workplace success
- What makes you able to do any feared activity
- What to say to yourself as a mantra to live by
- How to increase your emotional strength
- What trap to look out for that will make you be someone you’re not
- What intensifies fear
- Top tips to help you increase your happiness and success at work and lots more…
Next steps:
Overcoming social anxiety is now possible, so:
Share this with EVERYONE you know who has fear and wants to experience life without it- Tweet it, Facebook it, email details of this interview
For access to a free online course that also helps you deal better with social anxiety, click this link: Social Anxiety Success
Got a question or comment? Please leave them below. I’ll be glad to answer them for you.
Why do You Get Physical Symptoms of Social Anxiety?
- Social situations can trigger to feeling anxiety
- Some people experience physical symptoms of anxiety, and that is because their mind is creating it
- When you focus on relaxing both your mind and body then, you will decrease physical symptoms
- There is an excellent reason why you have physical symptoms, and if you decipher the reason, you can eliminate your physical symptoms for good
Social anxiety is characterized by fear and apprehension in a social situation. Social situations refer to any case where there are people, for instance, asking someone out on a date, going to a party, returning an item to a store, public speaking, using public bathrooms, eating and drinking in front of others, or shopping in a busy store.
As you may notice, all of these situations involve you, other people, and your perception of whether others are judging you kindly or not.
Social anxiety, therefore, is the fear of feeling embarrassed, foolish or making a wrong impression on others. What can happen as a result is a heightened fear triggered by your thoughts of what and how you feel you’re being judged.
So what happens if you feel fearful in a social situation?
Among the many things that happen to a person experiencing fear, one of the most common signs and symptoms that you’re suffering from anxiety is the physical symptoms.
Physical symptoms can range from racing or pounding heart, breathlessness, nausea or butterflies in your stomach, excessive sweating, clammy hands, dry mouth, and even chest pains and hot flushes.
The physical symptoms vary in intensity from person to person. Still, the treatment is the same, and that is to reduce the fear associated with a particular situation, and this will reduce the physical symptoms. You should remain in mind that you can never be happy if you live with social anxiety.
What reduces physical symptoms?
Relaxing your mind and body is the most common path to reducing physical symptoms. This is commonly approached through relaxation techniques, self-hypnosis, and even though one of the many ‘talking therapies’ such as CBT or NLP.
If you decide to help yourself, you can use many self-help techniques to reduce your anxiety because they will give you other ways to cope with various social situations.
Why do physical symptoms appear?
Physical symptoms appear because your mind is focused inward on your feelings. And it’s as simple as that. You will increase your physical symptoms when you focus on how fearful, apprehensive, or embarrassed you may be feeling,.
The obvious solution would be to focus on relaxing your mind and body by using various distraction techniques. However, your physical symptoms not only appear because you focus on how bad you are feel, but they are indicators of how you need to meet your own needs.
What is not common knowledge?
Most people do not realize that their physical symptoms are messages from their unconscious minds. And as unconventional as this may seem, this is precisely what is happening.
Your mind is an incredible resource of the many experiences you have encountered and how you can best look after yourself, and physical symptoms appear to let you know you are off track.
Physical symptoms, why they are there
Physical symptoms remind you that you aren’t looking after yourself in the best way possible.
Looking at it from this perspective, you’ll notice now that you will feel more empowered because all you have to do is decipher the messages your physical symptoms send you. Once you do that accurately, you will reduce every physical sign of social anxiety.
So how do you decipher the messages your body is sending you?
Ask and answer these questions
- Under which circumstances do your physical symptoms appear?
- Under which circumstances do you not experience physical symptoms, though you still experience some anxiety?
- What kind of thoughts is running through your mind in both of the above situations?
- When have you managed to calm your anxiety symptoms down? What are you saying or doing that made the crucial difference?
The above questions will help you decipher your body’s messages via your physical symptoms. For instance, if you have noticed that you feel anxious and then your hands get clammy when you are in a public cafe, you now have a blueprint of when your physical symptoms first appear.
Looking into this even more profoundly, you may also remember when you were in another public situation and didn’t experience any physical symptoms.
You may now realize that if you are with someone with whom you feel safe and secure, you don’t necessarily feel the physical symptoms because they act as a buffer to your anxious feelings.
This may or may not be accurate for you, but you get the idea.
The idea here is to identify what is already happening in your mind and body that produces the physical symptoms. And when you can place a pattern, you will also notice that you don’t always have the same level of physical symptoms, and in some cases, no physical symptoms at all, which will help you decipher the messages your physical symptoms send you.
Typical messages physical symptoms send.
- I need to calm down.
- I need a rest.
- I’m hungry.
- I’m not feeling secure.
- I want to feel more confident.
- I don’t know what to do.
- I think they may not like me.
- I’m not looking after my emotional well-being.
- I need more love and attention.
- I want to feel light.
- I don’t fit in and don’t know how to fit in.
As you can see, the messages are varied and numerous. When you decipher your messages, you’ll notice that they are mostly, if not always, centered around self-nurturing and self-love.
And before you could poo, poo this idea, it has been repeatedly proven that what underlines your fear is a lack of self-love, self-appreciation, and low self-confidence, and self-esteem.
The rules people play by that increase physical symptoms
Continuing from the above list are some beliefs that people live by that improve their physical symptoms of anxiety. These rules include phrases such as:
“It is essential that everybody likes me.”
“If someone doesn’t like me, it means that I’m not likable.”
“If I feel anxious, it means I am not coping well. “
“People should never ever disapprove of me. “
“If I make a mistake, then other people will laugh at me, and this is the worst thing that could ever happen to me. “
These rules, or messages that you say to yourself, reinforce that you do not feel confident or com, reinforcel situation and will increase physical symptoms of anxiety if you are not aware that you are living by these rules.
For example: In everyday situations, if you live by the rule that everybody must approve of you, even though you consciously know this is impossible, you will increase your physical symptoms.
So this is yet another message your physical symptoms are sending you.
Why you need to pay attention:
I’ve given you a lot to think about. And it is essential that you need to pay attention to why you experience your physical symptoms. They do not happen for no reason at all. They happen because your thinking, or your faulty thinking, is taking control and needs to be more balanced.