Thanks to everyone who supported and participated in [last week’s challenge](https://www.reddit.com/r/socialskills/comments/vayc9l/a_social_anxiety_challenge_for_the_week_ahead/)! Take a moment to reflect on the past few days. How many times did you greet someone? Did you feel less anxious about the challenge as the week went on? What did you find difficult about the activity and what improvements would you like to make?
**This week’s challenge: compliment someone! If there’s something you admire in someone else—their outfit, their personality, their actions, etc.—let them know! Keep a daily list of how many people you’ve complimented and try to beat each day’s score.**
Although exposure therapy is critical to overcoming social anxiety, throwing yourself into the world without addressing the underlying causes of your anxiety can sometimes do more harm than good. For this reason, with each weekly challenge, I’m going to start including some information on coping with anxious thoughts, behaviours, and feelings.
**This week’s anxiety tip: learn to recognise and refute your anxious thoughts. Here are some examples of anxious thoughts you might encounter while doing this week’s challenge:**
1. **This person is going to think I’m a creep.**
2. **They’re going to notice that I’m nervous/awkward/shaking/blushing/etc.**
**And here are some examples of ways to refute these thoughts:**
1. **How would you feel if someone gave you a polite compliment? Flattered, appreciative, happy—the other person is likely to respond in this same way. And even if they are creeped out, that would reflect poorly on them; it has nothing to do with you.**
2. **Your nervousness/awkwardness/shaking/blushing/etc. seems noticeable to you because you’re experiencing it firsthand, but other people are too focused on themselves to pay attention to these little details about you. Even if it is noticeable, most people would be sympathetic. And anyone who isn’t sympathetic is probably just an asshole (:**
For more information about coping with negative thoughts, I highly recommend that you give these a read: [overcoming negative thoughts](https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/-/media/CCI/Consumer-Modules/Stepping-out-of-Social-Anxiety/Stepping-out-of-Social-Anxiety—Module-2—Overcoming-Negative-Thinking.pdf) and [social anxiety coping strategies](https://www.mcgill.ca/counselling/files/counselling/social_anxiety_coping_strategies_1.pdf).
Best of luck to everyone in the week ahead!