I am surrounded by people often but I can’t befriend them, as i feel the instinctual need to hide myself and I withdraw when around people. I have acquaintances whom I feel isolated around. I am very awkward with social anxiety. I have a very mild temperament with subpar social skills. I don’t talk to people but when I do it’s very shallow and not my true self. I end conversations early with “oh haha” because I feel so unseasy.
How can i get better? How can i go from being acquaintances to friends with people? How do I love myself enough to let others in and not be so anxious about how I am acting? I feel like I’m going crazy. Social anxiety isn’t new to me, but navigating social anxiety as an adult is. I keep myself busy most of the time as I am a college student so I stay distracted, but on random fine thursday nights like this one, I stay up and cry and cry because I hate who I am. I dont even know who I am. I miss having friends like I did when I was 16.
2 comments
Hey there! I read your post and it sounds like you have a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, which is really great! It takes a lot of self-awareness to be able to recognize your flaws and acknowledge them.
However, I do want to encourage you to be kinder to yourself. I think sometimes we can be too hard on ourselves and it can really hurt our self-esteem. Instead, maybe you can try taking small steps to work on those flaws, and remember that it’s okay to stumble along the way. Just take a deep breath, and keep trying!
Hi op. There is a lot to discuss. Can you tell the root cause of your social anxiety? That is why you made your current behaviour choice?