Activism(´･ω･`)
Wellbutrin
Removing other stressors and toxic people from my life. Listening to emotional responses.
My anxiety from a rough relationship was giving me generalized social anxiety.
Sometimes you meet people and give then a chance before your figure it out. You can just cut them off once you see their toxicity. They’ll survive just fine so don’t worry about them. There’s plenty of other people who are ready for good and healthy friendships.
Vipassana meditation. There are centers all over the globe offering free 10 day courses.
Having a space to go where I can pull off the mask of “normal functioning human” for a bit.
Not being social.
I realized in my 40’s that my parents were wrong. You don’t actually have to be social butterfly to be happy.
I’m missing the need for social interaction. World didn’t end. I’m completely happy without it and there are plenty of jobs that don’t extensively need it.
So liberating. No amount of therapy really helped on the inside. It was all just pretending.
It’s tricky for me though because I’ve always had a social need. I don’t have a need for sex like the majority of other humans do, but I do have a need to be social. Lickily I fulfill most of my social needs by going to work, but it can be stressful at times.
Not caring about the anxiety part. I learned after a while not to give anxiety any respect and just do what I want, regardless if I get anxiety from it or not.
I’m not getting any younger. Not going to let anxiety run my life.
Edit: Instead of downvoting me, try looking up Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Doing socialization anyway … is the therapist-backed approach.
Nihilism works wonders I guess. So does not going outside.
Therapy and making my peace with the past. Like working through it and then actively deciding to focus on the present from now on. This video actually kicked off my healing process.
Wow thank you so much for sharing this!
Weed.
Moving to a walkable city. Turns out I just hate cars and I hated the fact that I had to drive to have any sort of social gathering.
Self-criticism fueled my anxiety and depression. Compassion and acceptance have significantly improved my well-being.
This is also a big issue for me. When I felt embarrassed because of something I did, I would tall myself, “You’re so stupid!” Which launched me into a shame spiral.
What has helped me break out of the spiral is to notice when I tell myself I am stupid and actively respond, “No I am not”
Making a fool of myself on purpose and laughing along. Karaoke bars, stand-up comedy open mic nights, improv theater.
It helps you see that people can’t really see behind each other’s “mask” all that well. All confidence is made up, so play along and it just sort of materializes.
Another way to do that is to try and become fluent in a new language. You build a different persona for each language you use, so might as well become confident in the new one on purpose.
Lived in a dorm for 5 years while studying. Makes you confront that anxiety quite often and eventually you get more comfortable.
Basically exposure therapy :P
Propranolol
Because it takes the edge off anxiety? I haven’t even been on it all that long and I entirely forgot it did this. Holy crap, what was I even like before! I remember being in constant pain from the migraines. More pain than I even noticed I was in, weirdly enough. Is it helping your migraines? My head still feels like Swiss cheese, or something. But more brain fog and heavy than pain, now.
