How to deal with & get over anxiety/self-consciousness?

Page 1 of 1 [ 2 posts ] 

avxscott
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 8 Apr 2014
Age: 25
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 5
Location: Florida, USA

25 Feb 2017, 3:30 pm

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I can't figure out where else it'd go :?

Dunno how to phrase any of this, but... how do you learn to deal with anxiety and self-consciousness??? I want to do stuff and go for walks and stuff, and engage in two of my newer special interests (photography and urban exploration) but I always feel too anxious and self-conscious to go out anywhere by myself, and I have nobody to go with me.

I can't go places alone cause I feel like something bad will happen, like I'll get mugged or murdered or something. Even when I have people with me, I still have that feeling. It makes me too anxious to go anywhere, so I just stay at home all the time even when I really want to go somewhere.

I always feel self-conscious, too. Whenever I go out, I feel like people are judging me and thinking bad things about me. I worry that people will do something to me, like make fun of me or insult me, or harass me. I'm an awkward pushover so I've been an easy target in the past, and I worry about it happening again. I don't feel like I can trust people besides the few IRL people I feel even vaguely comfortable around. So I always feel like they'll probably be a jerk to me for no reason like people have been before.

I want to go places and explore the area I live in. It's just a boring Miami suburb, but other people know more about it than I do, since I don't go out unless we need to buy groceries or whatever :| I want to do the stuff I'm getting interested in and take photos and explore stuff, but I can't cause I worry that if I go anywhere people will judge me and think I'm weird or harass me cause I'm an awkward teenage girl. Or that I might get murdered or something, since I wanna go to places I'm not familiar with and aren't in public. I know it's probably not likely, but my brain says it'll definitely happen :(

Basically, how do you deal with and get past self-consciousness and anxiety over stuff???? I feel like a huge baby being too scared to go anywhere when other people my age go places all the time easily :oops:



SmallBun
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 20 Feb 2017
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Posts: 33

25 Feb 2017, 4:14 pm

Hi there! I can completely relate to most of the things you said. I'm always worried about what people are thinking of me as well. Over the years, I've found it easier to practice being comfortable with myself, and somewhat "ignoring" people around me. I know it's probably easier said than done, but it really does take baby steps to accomplish. That's just how I deal with it, anyway. If I feel like I'm getting too anxious, I'll normally just go find a restroom or a quiet place and sit until I feel calm again.
As for exploring, I think it's also better to start small and explore areas close to your home where you'd feel comfortable, and then slowly expand to other places. If you do have someone you could take with you to make you feel more at ease, that'd probably be good, too. Again, I know it's easier said than done, but that's how I'd try to do it. :)


_________________
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 178 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 32 of 200

I just like being cute and small.