Hi all! I struggle a lot with social anxiety when it comes to my coworkers.
I work in a restaurant as a host/to-go/server. I’ve been doing that for around 2 and a half years, but I just started at a new restaurant yesterday.
I don’t usually struggle with social anxiety, but I think that’s because I choose carefully who I interact with and make sure that we have something in common before speaking or I make sure that whatever conversation is low-stakes. However, in a workplace environment, I can’t do that. I have to work with these people for a while and need to be on friendly terms with them.
I have autism and socializing used to be a big struggle for me. I learned how to read body language and facial expressions from scratch. I’ve read communications textbooks, blog posts, etc. all to figure out how to appear normal in a conversation. I know that I’ve done a good job and that I am now good at starting and holding conversations with others, but I still have a lot of anxiety and imposter syndrome over it.
Does anyone have any advice on how to overcome this?
2 comments
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You have to understand that people really aren’t as cool or as interesting as you seem to give them credit for.
And if you do happen to find yourself working with the most interesting man in the world, have him talk about his experiences while occasionally sharing your input.
It’s OKAY to be boring; don’t ever feel the need to have archeological adventures on your weekends just to have friends.