Daily SA experiences

[Awkward Annie]

I thought it would be nice to have a thread where we could get incidents off our chest every day or just talk about how SA affected us that particular day.

For me, I met an ex-colleague today for a brief lunch. We were pretty good friends when we worked together but I haven't seen her much over the last few months. We sat down and began chatting and I immediately began to feel anxious. I was talking to her and then I felt myself turn very red. This distracted me and I began to think "crap, I'm going red, why am I going red!" I then forgot what I had been saying and began to pause and stumble over my words and generally looked like an idiot.

Grrr!

Anyone else care to share?

 

[Exposure]

Im suffering from really bad insomnia for the past few weeks and its really taking its toll on me . i did good today , i got a christmas tree today and sleeping pills , i thought id be very anxious because my anxiety gets really bad if im not sleeping but i felt ok , i love to get out (even if i do it very rarely) and see the sights and sounds in my local village , recently , ive recognised i have issues with alcohol so ive cut contact with a few lads i know and im giving it all up , Im happy to be alive even though life with sa can be very hard , looking forward to having a great christmas with my family , Happy christmas fellow SA sufferers , peace , Robbie

 

[lithium]

Last weekend, I had to take pictures with my sports team. We were lining up to take individual pictures, and somehow I ended up being the first one in line. I never like to be the first one to do something especially in a social situation. Anyways, the photographer told me "you're up first", and it took me by surprise, and I was overwhelmed with anxiety. I would have been able to cope if I had been second or third, because I could control my breathing and such. Anyways, I am not very comfortable with my teammates since we just began the season and I do not know them. Long story short, I went up and positioned myself for the picture, while everyone was looking at me, and I was really nervous and just felt my face getting hot, and I could tell I was red in the face. The guy took the picture, and now I'm not too happy about getting it back and having a picture with a red face. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems, but it will be annoying to look back on it and see my face like that. I got over it though, just a bad moment.

 

[DillJenkins]

Phone anxiety.

I have it major. It affects everyday functioning for me. Its hard to initiate phone calls cause I have major fear of rejection.

I am more afraid to initiate a phone call than to simply see the person face to face.

I cant figure out why its so bad but it is the anxiety that most interferes with my daily functioning.

 

[zlench]

Anxiety really over nothing but is getting better. But still learning to speak more to people and have longer converstations with people. At the moment sleep is a real problem just can't seem to get a lot and the minute.

 

[Lost Girl]

Phone anxiety.

I have it major. It affects everyday functioning for me. Its hard to initiate phone calls cause I have major fear of rejection.

I am more afraid to initiate a phone call than to simply see the person face to face.

I cant figure out why its so bad but it is the anxiety that most interferes with my daily functioning.

I have EXACTLY the same problem. Strange isn't it, how a phone call can bother us more than a face-to-face meeting? Odd!

 

[dmdmm]

I too have the phone anxiety. I would much rather just go talk to the person. Not that I like doing that, but it's better than the phone.

 

[Predacon]

It's funny I find talking over the phone a lot easier then talking face to face because I don't have to worry about looking at them or worrying how I look.

 

[206Raider]

I will talk on the phone if I have to but I also hate it, I would much rather talk face to face with somebody more than anything. I run out of things to say way easier lol. Also at my last job, all my co-workers got along with me but I also didn't talk much to them, they always would mess with me saying "oh your too cool to talk"....rather them think that then the fact that when I did have conversations it was awkward and ended quickly most of the time. Seems like some people I can click with fast and able to talk easily but that's rare and some times even though the people are cool and nice I never get comfortable talking to them.

 

[Lorraine Manca]

this thread is a really good idea.at the children's hospital, i have to go into patient's rooms to bring them down to the school room. alot of times i open the door and walk in on them and their parent asleep under the covers, because these folks tend to sleep alot, and i feel so awkward waking folks up, then i have to roll the iv and carry medical equipment that is attached to a really fragile kid with needles and get them back to the school room. its terrifying no matter how many times i do it. i have no medical training and no medical role, im just a student teacher. even though i love working with the kids i really dread this part of it. it sends my anxiety through the roof. everybody else is so natural about it, its no big deal to most people there.

 

[Awkward Annie]

I meant this thread to be a place where you can get things off your chest at the end of each day, not a general thread.

Yesterday I felt humiliated in work when a colleague rolled her eyes at me and today I'm working with a new team and I can't think of anything to say. It's so awkward. I don't know what to say even when they are chatting amongst themselves.

 

[applegirl]

My thing is when someone asks me a simple question that needs a response of yes or no and it's a question I feel pressured to answer one way or the other I tend to pause and think over what I should say. This usually leads to a almost 3 second silence followed by my stumble of words, "Ummm, uh ..." and then I finally say something. I don't like being caught off guard when someone calls me especially if it's someone I don't know or if it's in a social situation when I am under pressure to perform or respond back for EVERYONE in the room to hear. It's not so bad in front of my family but in front of my classmates I'm just dead and gone. Take a few weeks ago in History class. I completely froze up when the professor called on me. My body's reaction to the situation never listens to what my brain has to say. this always happens to me. I don't mean anything bad by not responding right away. even my therapist says i'm perfectly normal it just takes me a little longer to respond because i need to think it over a little. but my dad says i should just give a respond right away to the other person or else he/she will think i am rude. i don't mean to look rude but i wonder how can i train my body to respond to what my brain is thinking instead of just freezing up.

 

[Awkward Annie]

Today I had a good day. I had to greet 85 visitors in work and get their names and check them off a list. I didn't feel nervous or anxious at any point. 8/10 on the non social-anxiety scale for me today!

Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend I haven't seen in a while and I always find one on one's more difficult!

Anyone else want to share their best or worst experience today?

 

[Sial Axetder]

Walking into something new. Always anxious feeling to get done with fast. I can shut it out.

I cannot do this all the time. I am not one to flight, I will fight. Regardless of emotion's mental choke, forward.

 

[MaliceInWickedland]

I mostly have facial tension around people. Whenever I have to do a group activity or presentation like right now in Medical Assistant where we have to do a role play on defense mechanisms, I get extremely sick to my stomach, get dizzy, and get that feeling like when you're on a roller coaster and it suddenly takes off. I'll usually just tell the teacher I don't feel good and if I could go to the nurse, but lately I can't do anything since the school has been getting suspicious of my frequent excuses. I can only hope that I faint or something during the presentation so that people actually get an idea of how bad my anxiety is. They think I'm BSing most of the time as an excuse to not do any work and they won't listen to neither my mom or I and even my psychologist won't write me a medical excuse because I refuse to take meds and "carry out my treatment", but I think I have a Godgiven right to refuse those meds. I took them before and they nearly drove me insane. No way I'm going to put myself through that again...

 

[Dave1989]

The main one for me is if i see someone looking at me, straight away i assume they are looking at me because they think i look like a freak or as if there is something wrong with me. The other week.on a night out i noticed one person look my way and laugh, then say something to his mate who also turned round and laughed so you can imagine how bad my anxiety got there.

 

[Kiwong]

Today I've been limping because I hurt my back on a run. This made my anxiety worse, and I felt light headed and dizzy, but managed to fight off a panic attack.

 

[Feathers]

I bleepin' flipped in the kitchen!
First I had to watch dad and uncle sit in the kitchen, eating unhealthy sweet-stuff, but that was okay cause we talked about interesting stuff.
Then uncle gets up abruptly and soon after mom and sis barge in, they were out on a sort-of-trip, and there's too many of us in the kitchen and just info overwhelm and people putting things and doo-dahs where not supposed to grr!!
And then telling me *I'm the problem* - who cooked and did stuff - grr!!

I think I'm like my grandma, who liked peace in the kitchen. If one other person is there, helping, it's okay and very much helpful - unless they go do exactly the wrong thing priority-wise grr!!

I'm not sure if it's a SA thing or just overwhelm/underwhelm/ADD-related.. I get very confused if random people start talking about random stuff while I'm trying to remember what to do next and haven't written down the interesting points from the previous conversation/s yet.. ugh!!

Maybe I shouldn't cook on an empty stomach (or eat sweets - grr!!)