I wish I could say this is a post filled with useful information but it’s really more of a post for seeking information. Does anyone have advice for social anxiety? I had a mild case of it when I was young that has almost become completely debilitating over the years. The crazy thing is that most people who know me think I’m an extrovert, but the truth is I rarely leave the house, am terrified of crowds, and spend a lot of time planning how to make money from home so that I don’t have to keep putting myself in situations that make me so uncomfortable. Since I work in communications and am also a glass art teacher at present I am often part of large events. What others don’t know is that I spend weeks planning, trying to build up the courage and energy to attend one event. Events anywhere from 15-500 people. Then after an event I am left feeling exhausted, drained, nerves shot, and physically sick from worry that everything may have not gone as planned, or that someone didn’t have a good time, or that I somehow let people down. For example, I had an art class tonight that I spent weeks preparing for with 16 people attending and although I was happy to meet new mostly friendly people and that so many came it’s now 3 am and I’m still awake, not feeling well and overwhelmed with worry, and class ended seemingly successfully almost 8 hours ago so I don’t even understand why. I am just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience of worsening social anxiety as they have gotten older or if this is just something I’m experiencing, and also how they’ve coped? The worst part of this apart from the physical and mental anguish is that I also feel sometimes that if I could just be normal and venture out into the world on a daily basis that I might achieve more for my family and that I am letting them down. If you know me outside of this group I’d appreciate if you please do not share this with others, but I am reaching out on this issue because I’m just realizing how much worse things have gotten as I’ve gotten older and truly believe if anyone else is experiencing this and has found some way to improve their condition it could be helpful to more than just me.
