Hi All,
I am very new in the forum and I just wanted to post about some positive experience I had dealing with social anxiety, I think it could help people.
I take part in a social anxiety support group, we were asked by the mentor to write a list of social interactions that cause us anxiety and to rank them according to the level of anxiety they cause.
One of the interactions I wrote was putting on music loudly in my office. I have a hard time doing this even though all my work mates do it pretty often, I guess I believe that the music I will play will effect the way they think about me and I am afraid that they will look at me negatively.
So the mentor said I should gradually try to expose myself.
It wasn't easy, but now, a week after the beginning of the exposure I feeling comfortable playing music in my office. I first started playing on a low volume and when no one was in the room, with the door slightly open, allowing some people to hear the music from my room, gradually (every few hours) I put in on loader.
Later I played the music with other work mates in my room, at first I felt very uncomfortable, I felt in urge to lower the volume or skip some song on my playlist, but as time past, I started just really not caring about it, and really- why should I? do I think negatively about my workmates because of the music they play? and even if I did- is it that terrible? I am enjoying myself more and work and I even feel that my workmates are feeling more comfortable with me.
Have a great calm and fun day!
I am very new in the forum and I just wanted to post about some positive experience I had dealing with social anxiety, I think it could help people.
I take part in a social anxiety support group, we were asked by the mentor to write a list of social interactions that cause us anxiety and to rank them according to the level of anxiety they cause.
One of the interactions I wrote was putting on music loudly in my office. I have a hard time doing this even though all my work mates do it pretty often, I guess I believe that the music I will play will effect the way they think about me and I am afraid that they will look at me negatively.
So the mentor said I should gradually try to expose myself.
It wasn't easy, but now, a week after the beginning of the exposure I feeling comfortable playing music in my office. I first started playing on a low volume and when no one was in the room, with the door slightly open, allowing some people to hear the music from my room, gradually (every few hours) I put in on loader.
Later I played the music with other work mates in my room, at first I felt very uncomfortable, I felt in urge to lower the volume or skip some song on my playlist, but as time past, I started just really not caring about it, and really- why should I? do I think negatively about my workmates because of the music they play? and even if I did- is it that terrible? I am enjoying myself more and work and I even feel that my workmates are feeling more comfortable with me.
Have a great calm and fun day!
