Experiencing Social Panic?

Social Anxiety

The thought of having "all the attention" on you can send you running. Have you experienced this before? You want to run as fast as you got there. You are thinking that everyone is looking at you, judging you, and invalidating all that you are, and the thought of that has you not knowing what to do, what to say, or how to even move. You want to get out of there so fast. If you could magically vanish, you will do just that.

We call this social anxiety. It happens when you are around other people and starts to think everyone is looking at you, or judging you, and because you may be experiencing those intrusive thoughts that are usually not based on facts, and having difficulty managing them, you may even start to dissociate. Association is an out of body experience where you aren't present in the experience you are currently in. It happens when we are disconnected from our bodies.

Signs

Social anxiety may look like having a hard time collecting your thoughts, experiencing racing thoughts, losing your train of thought, and forgetting what you are/were saying at the moment. You may find yourself stuttering if you don't usually stutter. You may find yourself experiencing difficulty breathing, and at times extreme nervousness, almost feeling like you are about to have a panic attack. Does this sound familiar to you?

Solutions

There are a few things you can do to re-center yourself when this happens. You can admit to yourself that you are nervous at the moment, and give yourself the time and space to regather yourself and your thoughts. You can take in some deep breaths to ground yourself at the moment so you are present in the experience, or you can allow your thoughts to be stronger than your feelings by focusing on why you went to the social gathering in the first place. Once you are able to relax after implementing one of these strategies, you will notice that all you were worried about was just an exaggeration of your fears. You may begin to learn to manage social anxiety and actually have a good time with the people you care about or want to get to know.