powerfulthoughts
Well-known member
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Social Anxiety Destroys Common Sense?
- Thread starter powerfulthoughts
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Argamemnon
Well-known member
Exactly! It's terrible.. Very well said and nice post. Thank you.powerfulthoughts said:
Ubersonic
Well-known member
I don't have much common sense to begin with, but with eyes on me I become a complete retard.
When I tell somebody I can't do something because I'm being watched they get mad and say "quit being a baby". I just want to punch them in the face. This is becoming the universal response to social anxiety and it needs to stop.
When I tell somebody I can't do something because I'm being watched they get mad and say "quit being a baby". I just want to punch them in the face. This is becoming the universal response to social anxiety and it needs to stop.
Oscelot
Well-known member
Ubersonic said:
Exactly. Although awareness is much higher than it was.. say... 20 years ago or whatever, people don't seem to understand SAD/SP AT ALL, and it's really frustrating. I always get comments like "just get over it". That's like asking someone with extreme Claustraphobia to just go lay in a fucking coffin and not have a problem with it.
leo1983
Member
Things always tend to go wrong.I remember once when i was in high school and i wanted a can from the drinks machine which i never used for obvious reasons.After waiting for the cue to disperse and nobody to be about i took my chance but then suddenly 8 or 9 people were behind me waiting to get a drink.My hands were shaking and i started sweating and to make matters worse one of the most popular,hardest lol and loudest kids in my year was just behind me in the cue and he was telling me to hurry up in front of everybody.My mind just went blank because i was so nervous but i managed to choose my drink in the end but then the can got stuck in the bit where it comes out from so i was bending down for ages trying to get it out while holding up this massive cue.And then they started saying things like hurry up you loser we've got lessons.
As you can probably tell this was a f**king disaster lol
But i can probably put money on it that this wouldn't of happened to me if there hadn't been a cue.
As you can probably tell this was a f**king disaster lol
But i can probably put money on it that this wouldn't of happened to me if there hadn't been a cue.
danisky
Active member
I'm an idiot when I have to complete a task with people around, even when it's my own family looking at me. When I was around 16 years old my mom asked me to sweep the entrance of the apartment. I tried at first but the fact that she was looking at me made me uncomfortable and nervous and she just said "what are you doing? don't you know how to use a broom?" in a really angry tone. To make things worse she decided to show me how to do it and then passed me the broom again and asked me to try again. The fact that she was already mad just didn't help, and now my dad and my sister were also looking at me, so I just froze and started crying, which made my mom even angrier than before.
Today, everyone laughs about that story. My sister has told so many people about it, and I pretend to laugh too, even though every time she mentions it I just feel more and more like an idiot. My family doesn't know that I have a problem that goes beyond being shy, so they don't realize that recalling these moments affect me even more.
If it had been just me, I would have probably accomplished the task with no problem.
Today, everyone laughs about that story. My sister has told so many people about it, and I pretend to laugh too, even though every time she mentions it I just feel more and more like an idiot. My family doesn't know that I have a problem that goes beyond being shy, so they don't realize that recalling these moments affect me even more.
If it had been just me, I would have probably accomplished the task with no problem.
SickJoke
Well-known member
It's because you're not focusing on the task. Pictures are flashing into your brain so fast that you might not even realize it. In these pictures you're visualizing making a mistake, and the people around you laughing, pointing, looking confused at what you're doing, judging you, etc. You're also having self defeating thoughts like "I can't do this, I hate this, why do these people have to be watching me, I'm going to screw up I know it."
With all of this brain chatter, between the mental pictures and the defeating self-talk, you're not even paying attention to what you're doing. You're too busy imagining possible disasters, remembering times that you made mistakes, and telling yourself that you can't do it. All of this might even be subconscious and it will just feel like your mind is going blank.
So what can you do? The first step is to recognize these absurd, paranoid thoughts. Become aware of the thoughts. BREATHE! I know you've heard it before, don't blow it off because it really does work. Become aware of your breath, take in a nice deep, smooth comfortable breath. Distance yourself from the thoughts, like you're a scientist simply observing. Let those negative thoughts pass. Don't fight them, just accept that you had those thoughts and let them pass. Pay attention to what you're doing, and if the negative thoughts show up again, repeat the process.
1. Recognize that you're having paranoid thoughts.
2. Breathe. Deep, slow, comfortable breaths.
3. Distance yourself from these negative thoughts. They are not you. They are your past haunting you.
4. Accept that you are having these irrational thoughts. It's okay.
5. Let the thoughts pass. Don't try to fight them. Just breathe and let them pass.
6. Pay attention to what you're doing.
This will work, but you have to make the conscious effort to DO IT. Ram this stuff into your brain over and over, and eventually you won't even have to think about it anymore.
With all of this brain chatter, between the mental pictures and the defeating self-talk, you're not even paying attention to what you're doing. You're too busy imagining possible disasters, remembering times that you made mistakes, and telling yourself that you can't do it. All of this might even be subconscious and it will just feel like your mind is going blank.
So what can you do? The first step is to recognize these absurd, paranoid thoughts. Become aware of the thoughts. BREATHE! I know you've heard it before, don't blow it off because it really does work. Become aware of your breath, take in a nice deep, smooth comfortable breath. Distance yourself from the thoughts, like you're a scientist simply observing. Let those negative thoughts pass. Don't fight them, just accept that you had those thoughts and let them pass. Pay attention to what you're doing, and if the negative thoughts show up again, repeat the process.
1. Recognize that you're having paranoid thoughts.
2. Breathe. Deep, slow, comfortable breaths.
3. Distance yourself from these negative thoughts. They are not you. They are your past haunting you.
4. Accept that you are having these irrational thoughts. It's okay.
5. Let the thoughts pass. Don't try to fight them. Just breathe and let them pass.
6. Pay attention to what you're doing.
This will work, but you have to make the conscious effort to DO IT. Ram this stuff into your brain over and over, and eventually you won't even have to think about it anymore.
coriander2008
Member
You're absoloutely right!
TheNewZero
Well-known member
flakeybark said:
lol
This happens to me in class al the time. We were playing a game last week where the teacher would assign everyone a word, and then give us the definition of it. When she read the definition we would have to say our word first (two people had the same word). I had the easiest word, and the easiest definition but it took me forever to comprehend what she was saying. The worse part was that the teacher felt bad for me so said my word more and more. Yeah didn't work.
DaaaBulls
Well-known member
I can relate, I work at a place where I am constantly surrounded by people and have to clean up, fix things, etc. I am always monitoring how I am doing something because I always feel like someone is watching me. The thing I always tell myself is that I am not a robot, a robot would be able to perform tasks in an exact manner without any complications. Therefore I am allowed to make a mistake or drop something or whatever it is. I would think that it would be strange if a person was so precise that it was almost perfect in everything they do. I can get over those things, I just have to work on trying to control my blushing which I tend to do a lot now and sometimes I feel stiffness in walking moving my arms. But only when I feel like someone is watching my every move, which I wouldn't be surprised because I am a handsome devil so ya know.
madmike
Well-known member
You should have seen me trying to cook a meal last semester with flatmates watching me ! I was so very clumsy, couldn't cut an onion without cutting myself (and then i'd try to hide the fact that i was bleeding when it was blatantly obvious). I still get a tad nervous when i'm cooking around flatmates, but there's a HUGE difference bewteen now and then (Dunno if it's because i've got more confident, because i've stopped caring about what they think since they couldn't possibly think any lower of me ayway, or because i know no one ever stays in the kitchen long when im there 
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