Reflection on How I Fought My Social Anxiety with The Help of Family

Social anxiety disorder, aka social phobia, is the third-largest psychological problem in the United States. Millions of people are suffering from it but the sad part is it takes months or maybe years for your family to realize what you are going through. Not many people are as fortunate as me. My family took the time to understand that it was not just a run of the mill stress. I was suffering from a real illness.

I am not here to share the story of how I was diagnosed or my treatment plan. Instead, I am here to share how I coped with my illness with the help of my family and some handy tricks. Let me share them with you.

Accept your anxiety

Accepting your illness is hard. The first step to healing is to accept your anxiety. It is just like accepting a breakup. You have to understand what it really is. Our problem is we think we are the only one but there are millions of people out there who are going through the same or maybe even worse. You cannot fight it if you can't accept it is a part of you.

Talk about it with the people you trust

Talking about anxiety is not something any person suffering from it looks forward to. But since you will be living with it, you need to openly talk about it with your friends and family. I would tell my friends that talking to new people terrifies me. Starting a conversation with others is tough for me. I have to prep and memorize what I am going to say for hours and maybe even days beforehand to make sure I do not mess up. I started warning others that talking makes me anxious and they need to bear with me. When they understood and accepted it, accepting anxiety itself became easier for me.

Go outside

People with anxiety prefer staying indoors. But I realized taking a walk in the fresh air is important to relax your nerves. It is also nice to stand quietly and appreciate the world around you. But leaving home is not always easy because sometimes, you can have a panic attack outdoors too and for that, it is very important for a loved one to know where you are. I overcame this fear with the help of Xnspy the location snooping app. I have installed on my phone and it lets my family monitor my location remotely. I am also relieved that when I am not home, I can count on Xnspy to let my parents know where I am. A great thing is that It is also a surround recording app so they can send a remote command to record and listen to my phone surrounding. If I am out too late, they send a remote command to make sure I am okay. I love this feature because I do not really have to call anyone and tell where I am. They just have to use the location snooping app to find me.

Breathe in and breathe out

When you are stressed out, your whole body is tensed and your breath becomes shallow. When this starts happening to me, I practice deep breathing. It makes me feel better. If I do not feel better instantly, I keep doing it. When stress kicks in, you forget to breathe. I never realized it until my therapist suggested me to practice deep breathing.

Focus on the solution, not the problem

There are always days when I cannot get things out of my head. I am sure you can relate to it too. Such days can really shake you up. Luckily, I found a way to overcome it by writing my thoughts down and trying to search for an answer. When I come across the answer, I follow the remedy but when I do not, I let it go. If there is some lesson that can be learned, I hold onto it.

Give yourself a break

It took me a long time to realize this that very few things in life are worth your anxiety and time. When you are anxious, you tend to make a lot of blunders. Do not be too hard on yourself when that happens. We all wish we could be perfect but hey, we are humans and we are fallible. So, when you mess up, try to fix it. If it is not fixable, just acknowledge your mistakes, learn the lesson and make changes within yourself.

Write a Journal

It is hard to express yourself to others, right? And It is even harder to say things when anxiety kicks in. The best way to let your feelings out is to write. Write down anything and everything that bothers you. You need to put your worries to paper and lock them away. Do not think about them much. You will be amazed to see how it frees you.

Call a friend

No matter how much you want to lock yourself up when your anxiety is at its peak, you need a go-to person. My first go-to person is my sister. She is here to listen to all my crap. She is also my mentor. My second go-to person is my best friend. It is really soothing if you know people are there on your lookout who understands you. We often second guess ourselves and that is when we need a friend who can motivate us, support us and encourage us to overcome our fears, because no person with anxiety can survive on their own.

Some of the things I have mentioned might be too obvious but It is also true that we are still not using them to improve our condition. You can take charge of your life too just like me if you follow these tricks and have the best support. On the side note, do use a location snooping app, it can be a lifesaver.