As our society gets more and more complex, and we get increasingly connected to the world, social anxiety levels are also changing along with societal constructs. Many people have to deal with social anxiety these days, and though it may not seem like that big of a deal, social anxiety can have a very significant impact on every aspect of one’s life.
Above all, social anxiety can alter the way you think, it can put you in a negative feedback loop, where you start getting anxious about your social anxiety, and you may imagine every social interaction as something to be feared, and in a negative light.
Social anxiety can impact your personality; however, beating social anxiety is possible. I know that it may seem impossible to you if you are socially anxious, but trust me, once you start to understand how social anxiety impacts your mind, you can beat it.
Therefore, today I am going to tell you about eight common ways in which social anxiety can change the way you think, so keep reading to learn more.
It can alter your perception of yourself:
Social anxiety is mostly accompanied by low self-esteem; it makes people increasingly self-conscious about everything they say or do. People with social anxiety tend to view themselves in a negative light, and they may criticize themselves for lacking the social skills that others possess.
It is common for socially anxious people to have thoughts like “nobody likes me” or “I am not acting socially appropriate”; they feel the people around them are continually judging them.
This constant state of anxiety and stress can change how people perceive themselves; they lose self-confidence and self-worth.
It can change your perception of others:
When all you feel is fear and anxiety around others, the way you think about them is affected. When an average person meets someone new, they might consider them as a potential friend, a business acquaintance, or something along those lines; however, a socially anxious person can never be as open to meeting new people; they feel fear which changes their way they act around strangers.
Eventually, their negative energy radiates to others, and their perceptions about themselves become a reality. If you are going to stay distant and avoid interacting with others, they will eventually do the same towards you.
It can change how you think about your treatment:
There is only one reliable way to truly beat social anxiety: to face your fears and force yourself to have social interactions. The same is taught and practiced in cognitive behavioral therapy, one of the best ways to treat anxiety.
However, since a therapy session is social interaction, people tend to shy away from it. Therefore, most people with social anxiety have to use anti-anxiety medications to function normally.
Though these medications are effective temporarily, they aren’t a viable solution in the long run. They have tons of side effects and only treat the symptoms and not the actual problem. However, if you need some mental relief to get the most out of your therapy session, you should give cannabis a try.
Cannabis is effective in countering stress and anxiety, so visit https://highclub.org/ to get some of the best cannabis strains.
It can impact how you look at the world:
Some of us consider the world a place of opportunities; it is exciting and full of things that make us happy and sad. The world is a place of mixed feelings and emotions, however, for a person suffering from social anxiety, only one thing is associated with the world, and that is fear.
A person with Social Anxiety Disorder will try to avoid social gatherings, festivals, and every kind of social interaction; they prefer to stay at home alone for most of their time, and they have very few friends, if any at all.
They opt for jobs that keep them hidden away from the world, and they aren’t able to climb the corporate ladder because of their non-existent social skills.
It can change the way you think about your future:
If social anxiety isn’t dealt with, it can have severe implications for your future because social anxiety is associated with a higher risk of depression.
An average person may have some goals and dreams they want to achieve, and they may view their future as better than their present, people with social anxiety can’t do the same. Because of their lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, they usually tend to lose hope of recovery.
They view their future as bleak and dark; they don’t see themselves happy and accomplished, and they aren’t motivated by thoughts of the future. All of this can be very detrimental to their mental health and lead them to depression as well.
It affects your spiritual thoughts:
Whether you are a religious person or not, spirituality has nothing to do with that. Spirituality is more about existential thoughts that allow you to understand your existence in a more profound manner.
We all have spiritual thoughts; for instance, what is our purpose in life? What’s going to happen after we die? However, social anxiety is so preoccupied with the fear of society that they can’t think about anything else.
It can change the way you view opportunities:
To gain any level of success in this world, you have to take some risks, and these risks get you opportunities. Opportunities that can help you change your life; however, almost every occasion comes with social interactions.
For instance, if you meet someone you think could be the one, you will need to talk to them, furthermore, in case of opportunities like a promotion, your communication skills will come into play. A higher position means you’ll have to deal with more people in more impactful situations.
All of this is very challenging for a person with Social Anxiety Disorder. Therefore, they usually tend to avoid these opportunities.
It can make you underestimate your talents:
Imagine a situation where you are in a class or a board meeting, and you have to present your idea in front of the group. You have worked very hard on your presentation, and you know that it is probably the best in the group. Your turn is about to come, how do you feel?
An average person may feel alright or maybe a little anxious, and a person with social anxiety will be overpowered with fear. Even if they have the best presentation, they will undermine themselves and underestimate their skills and talents. You can say that this is another implication of low self-esteem.