Social Anxiety – 9 Tips To Overcome It

Social anxiety is more common than you might think.  Most people hide it well so you wouldn’t even know that they are going through it. It can be very difficult for someone that is experiencing it. It can affect your whole life.

If you are experiencing social anxiety right now know that it doesn’t have to last forever and ruin your life. There are natural ways to get over social anxiety without taking medication that has nasty side effects. I eliminated my social anxiety and you can too.

My Experience with Social Anxiety

Most people who don’t know me very well will say I’m shy. People who know me well think I’m outgoing. It always makes me feel self-conscious when someone tells me I am shy or quiet. I feel like they are telling me I am boring and that I have nothing interesting to offer in a conversation. Often, I do have things to say, I am just not comfortable sharing them with everyone. I like to get to know someone before I open up about personal things. 

I am not shy; however, I am quiet sometimes and other times I’m very outgoing. It depends on which crowd I am in and how confident I am feeling that day. Therefore, to define me as shy simply isn’t correct.

If I am uncomfortable around someone and especially in large groups, I don’t say much. I don’t enjoy being put on the spot and am more comfortable having a one-on-one conversation with someone.

A co-worker even told me that I was so quiet they were worried I was going to explode and go psycho one day. That was hurtful and not accurate.

Even though I am quiet I am still reasonably comfortable around people outside of work. It is mostly at work that my social anxiety kicks in. I am pretty good around people I know very well and who I hardly know. For me, it was the in-between people at work who sort of knew me that I was the most nervous around.

Maybe I thought my co-workers would judge me and I had to see them every day, so I wanted them to have a good impression of me? I am not too sure why it was worse around them.

Social Anxiety Showed Up Completely Out of the Blue

I was working out on a project in the field and staying at a camp in the middle of nowhere at one of my jobs. One of the guys I worked with started talking about something and I joined in.  I guess my face turned red and one of them was very quick to point it out to me. I didn’t even think I was embarrassed until it was pointed out that my face was red. Instantly I could feel all the blood rush to my face.

Ever since then I was self-conscious of it. I kept thinking I don’t want my face to turn red. The guys pointed out that my face got flushed a couple of other times too during this project. My anxiety got so bad I began to avoid talking to people. I love talking to people and I thrive on good conversations! 

The people that I confided in about it said “what’s the big deal? Who cares what anyone thinks of you?” But at the time I really cared. I was stuck out there with all my co-workers every day and we spent a lot of time together; I didn’t want them to think less of me.

Social Anxiety Was Ruining My World

Even though these events seemed minor they were ruining my world and how I interacted with people. I pretended I was busy working all the time, so I didn’t have to talk to anyone.

I felt like people would think I was rude because I wasn’t talking when in fact, I was scared of being put on the spot and getting a flushed face. Or I’d get up and go to the bathroom when someone walked into the office. I even tried anti-anxiety medication, but it gave me horrible side effects, so I didn’t stay on it long.

No one knew the inner battle I was going through. I was miserable and trapped out in the field away from home with nowhere to go except to face my problem.

I found a way to completely get rid of my social anxiety with no medication. Here are some tips that helped me and can also help you to completely get over your social anxiety and fear of getting a “red” face.

9 Tips to Overcome Social Anxiety 

Tip #1 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Balance Your Chakras

I first made a point to balance my chakras several times a day. My third chakra (Solar Plexus) was affected. It is the chakra that is connected to your self-esteem. I knew bringing it into balance would help me.

I make a point every morning to balance my chakras. When the solar plexus chakra is out of balance you can have low self-confidence which can cause you to analyze everything you do and say and to be extra hard on yourself. This in turn can affect how you react in conversations and can contribute to getting flushed more easily. Also, if you don’t stand up for yourself this chakra can become imbalanced and cause you problems.

Tip #2 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Meditate

I meditated more. I used to not be very consistent with it, so I made a point to do it every day for even just 5 minutes.  Meditation helps relax the body and mind. It helps to balance your chakras and ground you. You also get more answers to questions you have when you meditate. By quieting your mind, you can tap into universal forces that can help you in your life.

Tip #3 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Stop Worrying About What Anyone Thinks

I know this is easier said than done. It took me a while to not care what anyone thought.  It might take some practice but really try to find a way to not care what anyone thinks.

Besides, the people that make fun of you are the ones that you don’t want in your life anyway. If someone nice sees you getting nervous, they won’t care. They won’t say anything, that is the type of people you want in your life.

People are very self-centered and often way more worried about themselves than they are about you. Chances are they aren’t paying attention to how you are acting but are more concerned about what you are thinking of THEM. Many people are self-conscious and only concerned with how they are coming across. So, they might be thinking the exact same thing as you without either of you realizing it!

I realized that my friends and nice people didn’t care. The genuinely nice people never pointed out my insecurities. Only the people who I didn’t want in my life pointed out my insecurities. Why should I care about them anyway?

Tip #4 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Accept It

I stopped caring if it turned red and got nervous. I accepted it. So what if my face turns red? It’s actually no big deal. It’s just my body having a reaction.

At one time, it felt like it was the end of the world. After researching it, I understood that it was just my body having a response to something in my environment.  It was doing what it was supposed to in this type of situation.

Our adrenaline kicks in when we are feeling fear and that is all that was happening. My body thought there was something to fear when in fact there wasn’t. You shouldn’t beat yourself up for not being able to control it as it is an uncontrollable response your body has.  Once I accepted what was happening it started to go away.

Tip #5 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Distract Yourself

I distracted myself when I talked to people. I’d play with my pen, drink my water, anything to distract me from thinking “this person is judging me and will know I’m nervous.”  I’d get up and photocopy paper. Anything that distracts you is good. When I distracted myself, I wasn’t thinking “I wonder if my face will turn red and I wonder if they’ll notice I’m nervous.”

By distracting yourself you get out of your head and into your body more.  You get nervous when you are too much in your head and only focus on how you are coming across. Try focusing on the conversation that is happening and that will bring you out of your own head.

Tip #6 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Bring Your Anxiety Down by Counting It Down

I did this technique that someone told me about where if I felt my anxiety was high (around an 8 on a scale of 1-10) I’d count myself down. I’d tell myself that it was OK to go back down to a 2 or 3 or 4. This helped bring it down and shifted my focus to keep me calm.

Tip #7 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Face Your Fears

I made myself talk to more people. Facing your fears will help you get over them a lot faster than pushing them away.  I went out of my way to talk to people.

One day I realized that I was completely OK. It was as if my social anxiety magically disappeared as fast as it came.  I didn’t feel my blood pressure rise, I didn’t get nervous, I didn’t think they were judging me. All the practice made it completely dissipate.

Tip #8 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Ground Yourself

I ground myself anytime during the day I felt ungrounded. If you feel like you are flying high with scattered thoughts and not connected to the earth, then you are more than likely not grounded. Grounding helps bring your energy back into the earth where it is more stable. It is easier to focus and you aren’t all over the place.

We sometimes have a tendency to float high in the clouds which makes it difficult to be present here on earth.  You are here on earth for a reason and grounding yourself helps to keep you focused on the task at hand. If you constantly float upwards, you won’t be present in your life and it makes it more difficult to deal with your earthly duties.

There are a couple of ways to ground yourself:

• Food is very grounding. Eating healthy food will ground you. If you aren’t feeding your body, it will float upwards. I recommend organic wheatgrass juice as it is from the earth and very natural.
• Walking barefoot outside on the grass or dirt helps you to be present with Mother Earth.
• Take a couple of deep breaths while you are sitting or standing and imagine roots growing from your feet connecting you to the center of the earth. Imagine yourself being one with the earth.

Tip #9 to Eliminate Social Anxiety – Block Other Peoples Energy from Yours

Sometimes it isn’t even you that is nervous! If you are like me, you might easily take on other people’s energy. Everyone has an aura and when you are around someone your auras mix together. You might be feeling their anxiety and internalizing it as your 0wn.

You can also feel people’s energy when they aren’t even near you. People can send thought waves into the universe and attach themselves to you without you even realizing it.

A really cool example happened to me where my stomach all of a sudden got sore. I wondered why as I didn’t eat anything that would affect it and I know that food doesn’t hurt my stomach, just energy does. So, I google it and found something really interesting that said people can place energetic cords on you if they are thinking of you. They don’t mean to do it, but it happens. So, I asked Archangel Michael to cut any cords that I had attached to me from other people and I instantly felt better. It didn’t get sore again that day. I thought it was pretty cool!

You can block other people’s energy by imagining a bubble around you and everyone else’s energy bouncing off of that. This way you aren’t taking on any of it as your own. You can also cut cords or ask the angels to cut cords with people, co-workers, ex’s, family, or friends. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be friends with them, it just means that any negative cords will be gone and you will both be free from each others’ thoughts and negative energy.

This isn’t a one-time thing either.  You will have to cut cords through your whole life as new people and thoughts attach themselves to you. You can also ask the angels to keep you safe from all negative energies. They can only help you if you ask because you have free will and they aren’t allowed to interfere without your permission unless it’s a life or death situation. But they are happy to help.

You Are Not Alone – Social Anxiety Affects Many People

If you think you are alone in this, you definitely are not. Many people get social anxiety. Most people don’t talk about it, so you’d never know that they are going through it. By practicing these techniques, it will help to reduce and eventually eliminate your social anxiety. 

~Meghan

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