Please give me your opinion

[ShyBeliever]

What do you think is a better choice?

1- To stay at home and be happy in our comfort zone, and using certain tools to socialize as internet (if that can be called "socialize"), and get out only if we feel positive and ready.

or

2-Force ourselves to get out of home even if we feel we are not ready and going to the cinema, coffee shop, restaurant, park, football game, etc, even if we have to go alone (running the risk of projecting a lonely image of ourselves to other people but at the same time creating oportunities of real interaction with other people)

 

[nope1]

What do you think is a better choice?

1- To stay at home and be happy in our comfort zone, and using certain tools to socialize as internet (if that can be called "socialize"), and get out only if we feel positive and ready.

Hey, Option 2 is the best.

The thing is, option 1 is just a vicious cycle. If you'll feel good at home with the internet and tv... what's gonna happen if all that is gone? The more you feel comfortable at home, the more you'll NOT want to go out.

But don't just go out there like crazy! Setup up some goals, some steps...Follow them and write your success.
For example: I'm taking 2 night courses (independent studies) each week. I was doing my homework at home... but I was getting bored always doing them at my place.

So instead, I took the initiative to do them at the university's library instead. At first I was anxious because school always reminded me of some thought because I didn't have a good High-School year (I graduated 3 years ago).
But little by little, I felt comfortable being there and I actually wanted to go there because I could concentrate more.

My next move will be to visit the all the campus so that I conquer my fear and just think that I'm a student there.

What I want to say is that, home can bring you a sense of security but... you're not really conquering your fears. Believe, I've had 2 years of depression where I couldn't get out, even to the corner store a few blocks away!

So my advice, think about you fear the most. Start with your EASY fears, then, as you go on, attack the fears that are more difficult. (trust me, I'm just starting so I'm talking to myself too.)

Good luck!

 

[LittleMissMuffet]

I think that either option can be right. Although I agree that it is good to try to push oneself a bit to get out.

However, pushing oneself can maybe be taken too far. I kept going back into the work force when I had anxiety problems and also stayed in a job when I was really struggling. ...And I think that if I hadn't have stayed home after the last job I lost, that I would have gotten worse.

So for me, I think it depends. Because a person can push themselves, but if things don't get better, this can effect self-esteem. And it was quite painful to have stuck at a job when my anxieties did not go and in fact bothered continuosly so that each work day was a monumental ordeal. And it took me a lot of time to get over this negative experience.