Generalized and Social Anxiety

[DreamMaker]

Hey peeps! How's it going?
Just wanted to share some of my feelings with you.
I've been dealing lately with a strong Anxiety.
I feel that part of it is by isolating myself from people,
I'm mostly alone...
And the other part is that I feel completely worthless.
It's hard to be so "different" than most people and it's not just me being gay.
In Israel everyone (well, 50%) serve in the army and I haven't because I'm my mental condition. I don't have a regular job. And basically, I feel like I have no mentor and a loving accepting group of people around me.
However, I have major social anxiety I'm ashamed of myself.
Anyway, yeah, it's just a confession, don't know what much else to say. I wish I knew how to be less alone.

[Darius]

I cannot give advice on anxiety but I know there are others here who can and will give great advice, especially Brian North. But please know that you are not worthless and that you have nothing to be ashamed of. You are only 19 and have yet to find your path in life. Hang in there and keep us updated on how you are doing.

We care about you.

[DreamMaker]

Thanks Darius. I'll try

[Darius]

I really hope this is not inappropriate and that he will forgive me, but I really think Brian North could offer you some help since he has posted so much about anxiety and even has YouTube videos on it. Maybe I could suggest you check both his post and videos out and maybe contact him by PM here.

Sorry, Brian, if you are offended by this.

[DreamMaker]

Thanks Darius hehe.
^_^

[bluedragon]

Hi DreamMaker

*hugs DreamMaker tight*

I also have social anxiety so I understand what you are going through.

But fret not! With some helpful guidelines, you can reduce your anxiety and lead your desired life.

1) http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/
http://www.socialphobiaworld.com/

These 2 forums are there to support people suffering from social anxiety. You can see that there are so many members in the forum. Social anxiety is actually quite a common condition.

You can read through the threads and learn how others cope with social anxiety. You can learn tips from them too. If you have any queries or doubts, you can ask in the forum. (Membership required though)

2) http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f58/

This link contains books that teach you methods on how to overcome social anxiety. Read through the reviews and see which one suits you the most. You can consider whether you want to buy the book or borrow from your local library.

3) https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/what-...al-anxiety

This website contains many interesting articles about social anxiety and will give you a better view of the treatment methods.

4) https://www.youtube.com/user/GetMoreConfidence

This youtube link has many videos which teach about overcoming social anxiety.

I hope you find the above links useful.

I want to assure you that social anxiety can be overcome and that you can have a better social life.

But you have to know that it takes time, so be persistent and don't give up.

Hope this helps DreamMaker

[bluedragon]

DreamMaker, you can always pm me if you need any help for social anxiety. Im happy to help you

[Pcolakuntryboy]

I've had anxiety all of my life. I was bullied as a kid, so it was really bad back then, but it has gotten better as an adult. Honestly, there are still times when I need a Xanax, but what triggers mine now is feeling like I'm trapped in a situation and can't escape. Sitting through a long meeting in a room full of people is pure hell to me.

[Rareboy]

If you have generalized anxiety disorder, then hopefully you have been screened for all the possible physiological causes for it...outside of genetic make-up.

There are three critical things that you need to do if you aren't already.

1. Sleep right. this means that if you are one of those who has turned day to night and are not getting good solid and restful sleep, you need to do this. This may require some help. I take something now to keep me asleep at night because otherwise I was waking at 2:30 and starting to work. Eventually I wore myself completely to frayed nerves and an anxious state.

2. Eat right. I can't stress the importance of this enough. Whole fresh foods. No msg or any of the other 1000 things it is disguised as. No High Fructose Corn Syrup. No high sodium content foods. No caffeine. All the processed and chemically saturated foods that we eat play havoc with our insulin and trace chemical balnce.....and there is a direct connection to the highs and lows and neurochemically induced anxiety.

3 Exercise. Walking or running gets you out in the fresh air so they are my favourites. But I got myself a recumbent bicycle so that I could get my heart rate and respiration cranked right up. And the exercise also helps me sleep better.

Other than this.....you know that it may be necessary to look into a Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor to help you reduce the stress levels and reduce or eliminate the anxiety. Although there can be side effects...if you are at a stage where the anxiety is making you dysfunctional....you have to weigh all things in the balance and move beyond the anxiety state.

If you are already taking something and still experiencing anxiety...time to discuss this with your doctor. You may be on the wrong meds for you or not on the right dose.

And all the best in arm-wrestling this demon.

[BrianNorth]

I really hope this is not inappropriate and that he will forgive me, but I really think Brian North could offer you some help since he has posted so much about anxiety and even has YouTube videos on it. Maybe I could suggest you check both his post and videos out and maybe contact him by PM here.

Sorry, Brian, if you are offended by this.

I really appreciate the vote of confidence!

What works for me may not work for someone else as we all have our own triggers that make us anxious but I've got a few tips.

Stability is a huge thing for me. If I have something I can 100% rely on then I find taking risks that make my anxiety go crazy are easier as I know when it's over I've got ** in my life. It's often something as basic as alright, I'll do this job interview and rush home to the cat.

With social stuff I do get anxious but I don't think I have social anxiety. It's just fear of the unknown causing that feeling. I usually would try to bring a friend or some element of comfort into those situations and I can branch out from there and talk to a person or two.

There is also NOTHING to be ashamed of. No sense getting worked up over stuff we can't change like our genetic markup. We can just learn to better deal with it (just being self aware is 95% of the battle for me).

Feeling vastly different from others is part of anxiety as the brain will focus on small things and turn em into large ones. Every single person is unique and has their own traits. The people that are the most 'normal' tend to be the most different.

Last thing is all about energy. Anxiety takes a LOT of it. However being anxious can also be a great way of being productive. Take a negative and turn it into a positive. Rather then sit around and fret I'll usually go clean or do laundry etc. It can especially help if you're anxious about a particular thing. Sometimes I get anxious about a video not connecting with people. Rather then sit around and worry about something I can't change as it's in the past I try to put it forward. I'll sit down and write a treatment for a video and start banging ideas around in my head. Sometimes it goes nowhere but often it sparks the direction things go.

Passion projects are also something I've found a tremendous value in. I know you're into astrology so perhaps there is an avenue there you can take that you feel really good about. Perhaps making more videos?