How would your life be w/out SP?

Mary

Well-known member
I know SP stops my fr. doing a lot of things and sometimes I think of the things I would do if I didn't have it, like learn to drive, get a job (of course) learn to swim, travel more, go places I've never been before, try new things.
How about you guys? How would your life be w/out SP? What kind of things would you like to do?
I know I am going to make a real effort this year to not let Sp stop me from living my life and doing all that I want. How about you guys?
 

IceLad

Well-known member
Life without SP would be wonderful. I would of done an awful lot of things by now- learnt to drive, changed careers maybe a few times, gone away to uni, moved out, been in (and perhaps out) of a relationship.

Think my age (26), is a motivational factor. I say to myself 'You're not getting any younger, and if you don't do things now, you'll never get round to doing them'. That's helping me to move forward bit by bit.
 

Reholla

Well-known member
Yeah I agree with Song of Songs...

Like I dont know if in my life I would be drastically doing different things. I would probably still be in the same position I am in now, but enjoying it. And that's the KEY....like why do something if youre not going to enjoy it. I know you are going to have to do things in life you dont want to do...thats just life. But you know what I mean from the perspective of social anxiety. I just want to enjoy life! Be myself, quit holding back, quit worrying, quit the negative thoughts.

To me that makes all the difference
 

Septor

Well-known member
It would be completely different.So much of my life is base off of sp sense I have had it all my life.It would be diferent life and most certainly better one or at least that's what I think it would be like.
 

Oli025

Well-known member
Iceland

Well Icelad im feeling you. Im 25 going 26 soon and am in the same position as you as we see were not getting any younger and you feel a sense of urgency.

The obvious question you might ask yourself is
"Are you ready to change your life?"

BUT you know what i just discovered for myself....?
You shouldnt expect a YES by the time you are ready.

Case in point,
In a month im flying all by myself from Canada
to Manchester, UK on a 9 hour flight to get over there
to 2 seminars, one on personal change, the other on persuasion
and influence(i ll apply this to sales job when i get one)
all of this for 12 days - while sleeping in a hostel over there.

Now when it was deadline time to sign in or back out,
do you think when i asked myself "Am i ready to change my life",
that the answer was a resounding yes?
I felt i wanted to but didnt feel i could.

At the end i realized i just had to be ready and willing to face my fears
and jump head first even if it scares the shit out of me.

So my personal answer to you is you are ready when you are not
ready but you do it anyway.

Dont ask me why.
But this is when you are ready.

You do it anyway.

The anxiety is there alot.
But your soul wont let you back out because its life depend on you
doing something right now.

ANd you know what, theres a ton for me to die of anxiety over while going over there. The plane, the hostel, just finding my way, will i be lost, the bus(yea the bus and the train. it kill me really lol), just getting food to eat!
etc.. etc.. i dont think theres any part that doesnt scare me.

But im not any better than anyone.
I just need to do this.
And i believe i will grow enormously from this experience
and this is what i crave so much for...growth.

Im babling here sorry.
I just felt compelled when i saw what u wrote
and while i was thinking of my upcoming nightmarish trip.

But you know what? for the moment at least,
i wouldnt change this upcoming trip for anything.
Why? cause finally i wont go crazy at home not doing anything
and i know many good things will come out of it, no matter how
stressed and frighten it might be at time.

I think that is when you are ready...
Not when you are not anxious anymore but when the purpose
of doing "it" and the feelings attached to it are greater than
the obstacles on the road(fear etc). When your focus is more
centered around the benefit at the end cause not having that
outcome is more painful to you than anything else you could endure.

You know the fear i might experience can only equal (and not exceed)
the pain im feeling. And id rather experience the fear and grow than
the pain and suffer for nothing.

I will only learn more about myself and its a new point in mylife.
And thats exciting at the same time.moving on...

sorry again for the long post.

P.S. oh i almost forgot. i have to get a job within the next few days to make up for some of the money i still need to find for my trip damn it!
lol

not funny tho - but thats life i guess
....until i start my own internet biz and make at least 60 000/year
i wouldnt have it any other way.
ahah


WISH me luck!!!
peace

Olivier
 

gg

Well-known member
:arrow: My life would be soooo much different to what it is now! I would have stayed in school & become a lawyer or something lol. I'm the kind of person who would like to get out there and achieve as much as i can in life, if only it wasnt for my sa!!! aaaarrrgh!!!!!!!! :x
 

jamez

Well-known member
It would be great without the SA or depression.

I believe I am making progress now though.
 

Mary

Well-known member
I wanted to ask this question about what people would be doing w/out the SP especially because of people I have talked to like gg and myself included, who let it stop us fr.doing so much.
To gg and everyone who wants to go to college or university, have you looked into the possibility of taking classes from home from the computer?
A friend of mine does that but I don't know all the details of how it works.
It bothers me how the SP is taking away or has taken away so much of our lives, of our hopes and dreams.
To me, the SP is "fear of fear" like the expression, theres nothing to fear but fear itself. I fear going into situations that might cause me to have a panick attack because I have had some a few times. So I don't even try anymore, but what if it wouldn't have been as bad as I had thought? And then this is how I live my life, avoiding things and dreading doing the things I know are unavoidable. But it seems like even when you avoid things, you are still afraid and in the back of your mind you think, one day I'm going to die and what will my life have been?
The Sp doesn't seem as important sometimes but rather making every moment here count because you don't know when it is going to be your last. What I'm trying to say is, maybe doing things even though we are afraid might be better than not doing them at all? I know it is hard, beleive me, I know, but sometimes I feel like life is passing me by.
This SP has taken years away fr. me and I don't want it to take anymore, life is too short. If the Sp is stopping us fr. fullfilling our dreams we really need to just pursue them even if we are afraid, if there is no other way.
Like the expression goes, "Being brave is not doing things w/out fear, it is doing things in spite of your fear."
For me, I am going to try taking baby steps in the right direction and try to walk through the fear until it is gone. But I can't just sit back and do nothing, I have to fight it even if it is by doing just one small thing every day.
 

gg

Well-known member
:arrow: Thank you for pm'ing me mary. I have thought about online education/home schooling etc. It is something i will look into further. i have a 3 year old that keeps me pretty busy during the day. When he goes to school full time i will consider taking up a course of some sort. Im sick of feeling like such a loser. :cry:
 

Mary

Well-known member
Gg: It is great that you are a mom! That is the hardest job in the world and you should feel proud of yourself for it. Please don't say you are a loser. I don't think so and I know your 3 year old doesn't think so! :)
 

nedkelly

Well-known member
Not sure if that was in reply to me Elaine :oops: , but i'll reply just in case.
But yes, i do worry people think that i am weird or creepy, because i look so uncomfortable, and am always looking around to see if they are looking at me. It's mainly with my neighbours..and rarely leaving the house. But when i do go outside, i feel my expressions are strange looking..because i am so stressed etc. But i am nothing like that in real person. It's just that i worry they think i am creepy, so i seem to make it happen..by the expressions on my face...i feel?..i don't know?
I look like i am up to something...which breaks my heart, because i can never be myself outside. It's just something i do when very nervous :cry:
 

brownbag

Well-known member
I'd definitely be dating someone right now. Since there have been a couple of girls who expressed interest.
But of course SA ruins it all, cos i know my face gets all tensed up and probably (i don't know) looks rather serious and all. And when the girls talk to me, my mind's just somewhere else, as i try so hard to concentrate on what they're saying in a conversation - plus, feeling all nervous and uptight - damn sa.

I wouldn't have dropped out of school the last time, and stayed thru to finish the course, because i would most likely have been able to cope with the stress like all the other students (at the time of which i had no idea i had sa..) and just manage. It's freaking frustrating to think of it, that just because of this (and nOT knowing it at the time - unlike certain illnesses you can easily be diagnosed with by a doctor and kNow what it is..), i had to leave school. wasting more time.

Reholla said:
I would probably still be in the same position I am in now, but enjoying it. And that's the KEY....like why do something if youre not going to enjoy it. I know you are going to have to do things in life you dont want to do...thats just life. But you know what I mean from the perspective of social anxiety. I just want to enjoy life! Be myself, quit holding back, quit worrying, quit the negative thoughts.
I'd love to travel and visit the country side of japan too. In the quiet and peaceful areas and.. actually Enjoy it.. just sitting there.

Oh and definitely be achieving many other goals for outside stuff.. instead of worrying about whatever i gotta do for now.. and, for what.. - for NOTHING!

Plus you can't even call social anxiety or agoraphobia as Indoor Living for goodness sakes!
It's not even living man..

But Oh well.. and i agree with Mary..we just gotta work against the "Fear of the Fear".
I know some people are injured or disabled or disadvantaged in life.. but why do we sa sufferers have a life if we can't even live it? - like evrything's a fear..

and sorry for going on so long, just wanted to express fully what was on in my mind.

Cheers
 

brownbag

Well-known member
nedkelly said:
But yes, i do worry people think that i am weird or creepy, because i look so uncomfortable, and am always looking around to see if they are looking at me. But i am nothing like that in real person. It's just that i worry they think i am creepy, so i seem to make it happen..by the expressions on my face...i feel?..i don't know?
I look like i am up to something...which breaks my heart, because i can never be myself outside. It's just something i do when very nervous :cry:

yea, i emphathise with you on that. I worry if they think im weird or creepy just because i look so tensed and am looking around to see if people are looking at me...
But I'm Nothing like that in person... and it saddens me :cry:
 

nedkelly

Well-known member
Thanks for the kind words Elaine :wink:
Yes, it is true, it's how you feel about yourself inside that projects on the outside. You have to feel worthy i guess. I do sometimes, but never in front of others...that is when i feel very small and child like.
Sorry to hear you go through the same brownbag :( .
If you, or anyone else wants to chat, just feel free anytime to email me etc.
 

Mary

Well-known member
Hello

Hello nedkelly, I just wanted to tell you that I get like that too, because I get nervous I think it makes me look wierd to other's. Or that it makes people be uncomfortable around me because they see I am uncomfortable.
Something like that happened to me last night, I saw this girl who I hadn't seen in awhile and she talked to me but I felt really wierd and there was this uncomfortable silence in the conversation but I realized I had not asked how she was doing, so I did that and it kind of broke the tension. But mainly I have to talk back to myself in my head, you know, talk back to those negative thoughts that come and try to change them to positive ones. Like if I think people are looking at me and judging me, i say to myself, no they are not ,they are more worried about themself's than about me.
It helps to talk back to the negative thoughts and argue w/them. Find reasons why they are wrong but even if you can't find a reason you can allways say, even if they are judging me, they don't really know me, so they are wrong in what they think. I know the truth about myself.
Hopefully this might help you a little. :)
 

Mary

Well-known member
Forgetit: Are you saying your life would be boring w/out SP? 8O
I would take boredom any day of the week and twice on sunday over SP!
LOL.
 
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