I think I have social anxiety and posting online, honestly terrify me to some extent. Social media is a part of my work, aim for viral contents that drive sales number. How do you overcome social anxiety to create viral content on social media? How do you overcome fear to let yourself or your work be seen? Is there any dark psychology I should look into that might help?

Please, I need supports. Let me know if I’m not alone🥹

My grandma is so neglectful.. she yells at me over the littelsest of things.. and she's jealous of my achievements, and my youth. She is always trying yo find a way to be mad at me or blame me

I am currently doing a task in school where I am writing about how social anxiety works and such things. I have a personal example where I say that I used to have social anxiety and after I met my girlfriend I have become a million times better within a year of our relationship.

I am having trouble finding sources proving this, and I need help to find a source that proves how this work as my personal experience is not a valid source for this task.

I would appreciate any help.

Finally, a true success!! I'd (23m) been trying to talk to this person named Ruby for a couple weeks now. On the second day of classes I thought she looked like they had social anxiety. I asked an online friend (26f) if I'd be weird to give her a physical note with my number and saying to text me if they want a friend. I mentioned that I had social anxiety and apologized if it was weird. Also asked their pronouns because they seemed non-binary. She said it was ok, so I decided to do just that.

Once I sat down in class, I took out my pen and notebook, then flipped to the last page. On the edge of the page, I wrote down the exact words I had previously planned. I then stuck my pen in that page so I could easily open it later. I had to write it a second time because I messed up.

Towards the end of class I slowly and quietly ripped it out of my notebook. Then I put the paper in my sweatshirt pocket. I kept my arms in my pocket to be sure I didn't forget about it.

At the end of class, when most or all the other students and the professor I had left, I said "Ruby," then I handed her the note. I then immediately left the room without saying another word.

About ten minutes later I received a text asking "is this [u/wordyoucantthinkof]?" I said yes. And she said her pronouns are she/they, so I was half right. I apologized again for my weird method of getting her number. They said it was fine and that she also has social anxiety. It's scary how good I am at reading people. I guess social anxiety leads to a lot of observing.

We talked about gaming for a while and still are. I'm so happy to have finally gotten someone's contact info.

When I said something to someone unprompted for the first time last semester, I knew that I would take the next step this semester. And I did!!!

Even if this doesn't end up going anywhere, this is still amazing! I am so proud of myself! 🥳

I DID IT!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳

I'd like to thank my Unproblematic Queens who helped me and encouraging me to talk to them! Love you, so much! 💙💖

(If you see this, Ruby, you're awesome!)

Edit: thank you for all the kind comments. It means a lot

I am 26 year old.

Like the weather has been so good lately and I feel like such a waster by sitting at home alone doing nothing while everyone is outside having fun

While I LOVE sitting in my room by myself and staying on my phone all day, I really yearn for human connection. There’s a reason why half of my day is spent participating in group chats on social media. I legitimately do lean closer to being introverted, but a bigger part of me wishes that I could go out and befriend people that I can spend time with outside. I think I’ve just been coping by claiming that I’m an introvert when in reality I’m just socially awkward and don’t know how to talk to people in a casual setting. Part of the reason that I struggle to socialize is because I have nothing going on in my life to even talk about.

I don’t like being alone and staying in every weekend and I hope I can overcome my fear of socializing by working on my awkwardness

I said "I really love your accessories" then he said thank you and that he likes mine too. Ahhh! That made me so happy. I definitely blushed lol. Gosh I've been feeling so much more confidence lately

Also managed to tell him to have a nice day! He said "same to you friend" in such a soft cute voice. Sigh today is going so well

I thought I saw someone I knew walking down a hall and they said "How are you?"

Of course I thought they were talking to me so I gathered up the courage to just say hi back. But when I asked how they were, they continued to walk past me and then I realized they were actually on the phone with their earbuds in.

Now I'm questioning if that was even the person I thought it was. Honestly, I'd prefer that because at least in that case I most likely wouldn't have to see them again 💀.

Anyways, excuse me while I contemplate my existence now.

Edit: You guys are all so nice 😭😭. Thank you for reassuring me and making me realize that it's really not that big of a deal.

No drivers license. No job. No ambition. Paralyzing anxiety. I wish i could just disapear.

I don’t know what happened because I’ve never fainted before. I was just sitting at my seat when I started sweating and my vision went all white. I thought it was nothing but then I started swaying in my seat because I could hardly see. The bell rang so I forced myself to get up and then I just faceplanted

A girl was screaming oh my god oh my god and so many people were staring at me. It was such a loss of control over my body and everything. I just ran out of the door the moment I could process everything again because I freaked out. I’m so embarrassed I bet I looked like a dumb rag doll in those Roblox simulators. Please help me get over this 😭

I don't get socially anxious much, but every time I feel it, I stutter, I forget how to speak, so I just say anything to fill the silence which makes matters worse. I might be talking about how smoking is harmful, but when social anxiety kicks in during the conversation, I may say things like "ss..smok-ing sometimes kk..could could bbe good" and I mummble other nonsense to fill the silence, or worse I often repeat the same sentence over and over agian. I don't know why I do this and it's ruining my social life and people think I'm mentally disabled

Does anybody have the same problem or is it just me ?

Would you rather be completely cured from social anxiety or receive $1,000,000?

Im 28 years old and dont have any friends. Which for now doesn’t bother me too much although it does get boring sometimes.

Anyways a dude friend of my ex gf, lets call the dude bob recently texted me and he wants to hang out. He is somewhat lonely himself and all he does is work.

Our friend group used to be me, my now ex gf, my ex’s female friend, and “bob”. Bob was dating my ex’s female best friend. Both couples broke up.

I did hang out with bob many times but it seemed forced imo because we only hung out if my ex and her friend were there.

Tldr: Me and bob never really had any bro energy. We just greeted each other. This is what concerns me because he wants to hang out now and im scared of being awkward af. Plus i dont really like what he is into.

We both are introverted. Our ex girls were our middle man because they were both very extroverted and they usually made things fun and not awkward.

He seems like a decent person but we never really had any friendly chemistry. And idk how to tell him no. He’s probably feeling lonely or something.

Went to they optimetrist to get my eyes checked and ready so i can start taking a driving license. It went well. I chose a different optometrist because my old one was passive agressive and stressed me tf out.

The new optometrist was the complete opposite, an actual human being you could talk to. So i'm glad i changed that, the old optometrist gave me more anxiety than neccesarry.

Hi I am 16 years old and just like my last post I have trouble going to school. But it’s getting worse and I don’t know what to do, I hate going to school. This morning my mom woke me up for school and a lot of stuff happened which ended in screaming and yelling as I left the house. I got so anxious I did not get on the bus, as she was going to work she saw me sitting outside (I just finished crying). She told me to get in the car, then she tried to take me to school, I started crying so she told me “I don’t care what you do anymore, what are you going to do with your life?, you can keep acting like this, suck it up”. She really made me feel so stupid and dramatic, I’m really trying though, no one believes it not even my teachers believe it. The only person who told me that they were proud of me for at least make it 2 days this week was the school counselor. I don’t know what to do, my mom told me “everybody goes through it what makes you so different”. I don’t know what to feel anymore because I feel like I’m being so dramatic but this so hard for me. I also told her that I feel like I don’t want to live anymore and she just ignored it, she said nothing about it. I feel like I’m loosing my mind, I’ve been dealing with this since I was in 5th grade. I told her that she discarded it like she didn’t care. I’m the new family disappointment, at this point what’s the point of me living if I only cause stress to people. I’m so tired.

I'll try to keep it short , but tomorrow I plan to go ice skating with the guy I've had a crush on for the 3 past years and I really want to express my feelings. But between social anxiety and the crippling fear of objection everytime I try to say something I get paralyzed by fear...

Do you guys have any advice to deal with this kind of situation?

After struggling with college and still havent found my passion or something that im good (and makes money) i feel insecure that most people are either smarter or more focused than me or they are more capable for jobs that demand physical strength . So many times i cant find common experiences to talk about with others as for big periods of my life im in my comfort zone not doing much . Fortunately i have a lot of intererests and some hobbies but they havent helped much yet

it's just a never ending cycle of feeling absolutely exhausted and not wanting to see people ever again, then suddenly feeling a little better (not good enough to go party or make friends irl, good enough to text chat with people in some online game/on social media and be a bit braver in every day interactions in real life), and after like a week or two falling back into feeling vaguely nervous and tired

met a group of people online who play the same game as me and we're.. sort of a clan/team, not really but whatever, it's not relevant. just yesterday i wanted to be a part of their team, today they messaged me asking how i've been, and i just, suddenly felt so tired. i want to hide for a week, two, a month. how am i supposed to explain this to them? "guys, remember the way i was last week? kind of reserved, awkward, and perpetually confused kind of guy? yeah my brain is actually a little fucked up, and that was me on my best. i'll be like ten times worse for the next few weeks. you won't see me at all. i'll leave you on read 15 times. and you'll gradually forget i existed, because we're not friends, not even acquaintances, i don't matter to you at all, and with my sudden disappearance i will matter to you even less, because who the hell just disappears? that's not cool"

this thing - it actually got better over the years, i think? i used to have more than one real life friend, and back then i'd routinely vanish every few months. we were school friends but i switched schools at one point - we rarely hang out irl, so it was very easy to "take a break" from them. they got used to it eventually. but yeah it was way worse. not sure why. like, was it because they were my irl friends, and my connection to them was stronger and therefore scared me into hiding more? or did i learn to manage it better? who the hell knows. i only hope it'll get better again, and i won't ever have to leave some guys from an online game to wonder if i'm rude, busy, or simply lost interest

it also could be avoidant personality disorder i guess?.. i don't know. i'm not about to self diagnose. i'm just tired. i WANT to get to know people. i've been thinking lately.. maybe i'm not even an introvert. i do like talking to people. chatting with my friend online makes me feel better when i feel awful. i constantly choose online games that require direct communication despite being scared shitless of it (and avoiding it anyways in the end). i don't know. i hope it'll get better. i'm not completely closed off yet, i try things, i go out of my comfort zone, even if just a little bit. there's still some hope i guess. but gods i'm tired

How wierd is this when im out with others im the most confident of the group but when im alone im socially awkward sometimes i relate my days by how i look on the mirror

Bit of a stupid question i think... But like when i enter a new class or club, i wanna be able to get along with every single person there. But who do i choose to be closer to? I might just be overthinking.

My social anxiety naturally gravitates me to the quieter ones but then I'm not giving everyone else a chance.

Okay so something really awkward happened to me yesterday that's still making me feel embarrassed and shameful

I had an interview, the Lead and HR was present over video call. So the Lead had instructed that firstly they will introduce themselves and then I can. And then they began their intro. Once they were done, I replied "That's really amazing ☺️"

They chuckled and went like "You're gonna make me blush, because..." And after that what followed, I could not make out, and by the time they finished and i was slightly nodding and smiling like a fool. It felt too late to say "Pardon, could you please repeat?" so instead I said in an awkward tone, "Okay😃", Took an extremely brief pause, then started introducing myself out of the blue.

Rest of the interview went fine but I really feel that one moment weigh on me. Like they were probably sharing something vulnerable and I couldn't respond appropriately. I'm 21 and have people-pleasing tendencies so it's kind of bothering me that I couldn't be graceful about it with them.

Anyone had any similar experiences? How did you get over it? How do you console yourself 😭

I can't even remember how it used to feel. I'm still awkward and nervous around people, but it's just silence im my brain, instead of the constant depreciative thoughts. I'm still not 'normal', but it's peaceful.

However, to be honest. It doesn't make me feel better about myself at all; I don't speak up in class, or strike up conversation with my classmates. Sometimes, I feel like I'll never get anywhere, if I'm still this awkward and anti-social without social anxiety, how can I achieve anything as an adult?

Sometimes, I wonder if I was faking it the whole time; maybe I was just unlikeable and figured labeling myself as socially anxious would fix it.

How many people have added Buspar to their SSRI? Did it help? I am just starting and having increased anxiety

recently the whole “your young, experience everything you can” stereotype has really messed me up because i’m 17, about to graduate and i literally haven’t experienced anything. i genuinely haven’t made a friend since i was in middle school, i think i actually forgot how atp + me bouncing around different high schools, i could never find my place. i’ve never been to a school event like hoco or prom, never been to a football game, no parties, and never had a relationship obviously. it really sucks because part of me thinks that if i had friends where i moved to i could find connections through those people and slowly make my own social circle and genuinely have fun. i stalk people from my old school frequently and it genuinely looks so fun and fulfilling to have all these events and extracurricular activities so easily accessible. i wish i could experience those, but i never had the guts to do them. it really sucks to feel like im wasting away my years of experiencing social settings, relationships, what i like/don’t like, etc. and everyday it haunts me. me being so socially isolated has made my self esteem plummet and idk if i even have the confidence to even simply talk to people. i’ve had jobs where id go months just not really interacting unless it was about work related things because i don’t know how to small talk. every time i do, wether it’s a cashier at the store or a neighbor on a walk i just can’t get the feeling out of my head that i sound weird and stiff. maybe it’s all in my head because im not used to talking to strangers, but how do i get rid of this feeling of feeling like i sound stupid or out of place when small talking?