the cost

[IAMN]

what is the cost of trying to improve your sa? I am went to a "small gathering" for a birthday party but people just came and came and came until I couldn't breath and ended up standing in a dark corner the whole night. I am never like this anymore when I am sober. When I am sober I am funny, I am confident, I am spontaneous and good around the opposite sex. When I am intoxicated I introspect and nearly have heart attacks when there are unfamiliar people around you.

This puts be between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand I am CONTENT with life when I am stoned all the hours of the day. On the other hand I have a chance at a "normal" life if I abstain from these things (I DO NOT feel CONTENT). There is no middle ground between these two things as I have struggled again and again to find one.

So what is the cost of ridding yourself of sa and in evaluation of this cost is it still worth it?

 

[Ignace]

So .. if you drink you're anxious and if you don't you're not ? Then what's the problem, stop drinking, lol.::

 

[Feathers]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, don't drink.
Alcohol can increase anxiety and depression because it robs the body of important vitamins and minerals. (Sugar and caffeine do that too..)

Is it difficult for you not to drink at social gatherings and such?

I know it can be tough, if you make sure your glass is always full with something else, it's totally doable. What about people from AA or such? Or people who need to drive back home? (Gives you a nifty excuse..)

I find it hard to resist sugar and such on events too, then suffer consequences next day.. I've also successfully avoided it all sometimes, so I KNOW it's doable!! (Even if it's not easy sometimes!)

 

[vj288]

It may seem like you need to drink to be content, but really if you are all those things when you are sober soon enough you will come to see you will be able to be very content in life.

 

[Diend]

Yeah I have to agree. I planned to join a lot of clubs in high school, but I made up excuses that I wouldn't fit in because of my social anxiety. I would just be cast aside. In retrospect, the clubs I would have joined were my passions. Regardless of what people thought of me, I will do what I'm passionate about...of course, that would be healthy passions.

 

[Iseesky]

The cost is much greater than actually having SA, I think. The road to get rid of it, I mean. It's definitely worth it to be free of the stresses of anxiety. No question. Though, it's hard to have to step out of your comfort zone in order to make any improvements because that's the only way it's going to happen!