Zipper
Well-known member
Friends, I write just to encourage all of you a bit. There have been many people who have been forum participants throughout the years who have come and gone. A lot of us have recovered from social phobia, and that is why we have left. I wanted to return to deliver a message from those on the other side. And that message is this:
You have the strength of heart and mind to endure social phobia. You can beat it! For example, I have beaten it. Today, I have a professional job that involves regular public speaking to audiences that number as many as 200 people. I have a significant other and deep personal friendships that sustain me. Yes, it makes my heart flutter a bit. There are no personal, social or professional goals that are frustrated by anxiety in my mind. The central emotional that I experience on a day to day basis is joy.
This is a lot different from my experience years ago when I first enrolled in this forum. I experienced a ton of avoidance and anxiety. I had a lot of thoughts and ideas that were like chains and bars of a cage. I was sad, depressed, suffering. I felt hopeless, worthless.
There is a lot of advice that I could give someone who wanted it. But the most basic piece of advice I could give is the same advice that you would get from any wise person or educated therapist: try to see the good in all experiences. Try to see the glass as half full. Take criticism and suffering as an opportunity for growth. Cut yourself some slack and give yourself credit. Throw away "all or nothing" thinking, rigid belief-systems, labeling, and catastrophic thinking. Try to have experiences that will allow you to grow and learn. Be persistent, hang in there, even courageous! Don't seek external validation, but provide your own validation. Welcome the hatred and scorn of others. Get rid of your ego.
Things will work out for all of you. All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
You have the strength of heart and mind to endure social phobia. You can beat it! For example, I have beaten it. Today, I have a professional job that involves regular public speaking to audiences that number as many as 200 people. I have a significant other and deep personal friendships that sustain me. Yes, it makes my heart flutter a bit. There are no personal, social or professional goals that are frustrated by anxiety in my mind. The central emotional that I experience on a day to day basis is joy.
This is a lot different from my experience years ago when I first enrolled in this forum. I experienced a ton of avoidance and anxiety. I had a lot of thoughts and ideas that were like chains and bars of a cage. I was sad, depressed, suffering. I felt hopeless, worthless.
There is a lot of advice that I could give someone who wanted it. But the most basic piece of advice I could give is the same advice that you would get from any wise person or educated therapist: try to see the good in all experiences. Try to see the glass as half full. Take criticism and suffering as an opportunity for growth. Cut yourself some slack and give yourself credit. Throw away "all or nothing" thinking, rigid belief-systems, labeling, and catastrophic thinking. Try to have experiences that will allow you to grow and learn. Be persistent, hang in there, even courageous! Don't seek external validation, but provide your own validation. Welcome the hatred and scorn of others. Get rid of your ego.
Things will work out for all of you. All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
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Thanks for coming back to share! Did a poll early this year trying to figure out where all the ops went, if they recovered or...and Im so happy to hear happy things