8 Tips to Make Dealing With Social Anxiety Easier

Are you struggling with social anxiety?

Social anxiety disorder is a very common issue. 15 million Americans experience anxiety and distress when put into social situations. There isn’t a magic cure, and living with social anxiety isn’t a walk in the park, but some effective tips and strategies can make it easier to deal with.

Read on to learn our top 8 tips to make dealing with social anxiety easier.

1. Don’t Pick Negative Coping Strategies

Social anxiety comes with a lot of negative states of mind, and emotions. This can cause physiological symptoms you’re experiencing to get worse.

In social situations, a lot of people use negative coping strategies like drinking. Research shows heavy drinking will cycle back to those bad moods.

A big tip for coping with social anxiety is to avoid the temptation to drink too much. This way, you won’t be putting yourself in a position of worsening your symptoms.

2. Burn Off Any Adrenaline Beforehand

To help you keep calm and more clear-headed, it’s a good idea to release as much stress as you can before an event. By burning off the excess adrenaline your nervous system can stay more regulated.

The best way to get in some pre-event de-stressing is a good old-fashioned workout. One that’s high-intensity and leaves you sweating.

Or you can work up a sweat doing a major clean-up of your home. So long as the heart is pumping, and you’re burning off that excess energy it can be anything you want.

3. Don’t Run Away From Your Fears

A lot of people who have social anxiety avoid social situations altogether. Instead, they turn to social media or other activities on their smart devices.

Hiding behind a smart device to avoid social situations could be more harmful than it is good. You should face social anxiety head-on. Work up in gradual steps, and increase the complexity of social situations over time.

A key approach in therapy is via social mishaps. This challenges your idea of social norms. The idea is to break your self-reinforcing cycle of dread and fear when it comes to social situations. As well as your avoidance issues because of these negative anticipations.

4. Set Yourself Goals

Rome wasn’t built in a day and your coping strategy won’t be either. But it’s not enough to have some vague idea of what you’re setting out to achieve. You need clear, defined goals that you can measure.

It’s a good idea to take a self-assessment quiz to find out your social anxiety score. This gives you a benchmark of where you are now, so you can work out where you want to end up.

When you’ve started to work on improving your social anxiety, you can use this quiz again to see how far you’ve come. Don’t compare yourself to other people, focus on your journey.

5. Be a Great Listener

People love a conversation with a good listener. It’s also a good way to help remove the burden of feeling like you need to carry the conversation.

One strategy to help the conversation flow is to make note of keywords. For example, if they say, “I had a busy weekend, my dog needed to go to see a vet.” You can say, “I’m sorry to hear that, how is your dog now?”

Another good tactic is to work out who the “entertainer” is in the room and stick near them. They’ll say they enjoyed your company a lot. You laughed at their jokes, you listened and nodded where needed. It’s a good strategy for building up your conversation confidence.

6. Work On Your General Health

Make sure that poor general health isn’t a contributory factor to your social anxiety. Exercise regularly (cardiovascular and weight training), and eat healthily.

As stated in a previous point, try to stay away from alcohol. If you need a drink to calm your nerves, chamomile tea is a good alternative.

If you’re not exercising, start a plan for yourself today. Not only does it increase your well-being, but it can help reduce anxious feelings. If done with others, you can build social skills with a non-threatening distraction.

7. Set Some Go-To Topics

Remember that social anxiety doesn’t have to dominate your life if you don’t let it. You can still find a date, or get a job; you can still live life how you want to. Having a few pre-planned stories or topics can make going to social situations easier. A good place to start is to use something that’s of current interest.

Is there a popular sporting event to talk about? Even a recent movie or TV show. You can also go with the old fail-safe of a compliment, everyone loves getting those.

Tell someone that they look nice that evening, or ask them where they got their shoes/bag/suit/etc. from. Or ask them if they had their hair done or changed their style. A little pre-planning and some safe, comfortable topics will go a long way.

8. Have a Mantra

If you start to feel overwhelmed, reciting a mantra can help give you back the feeling of control. When you feel anxious, start to say a calming word or phrase.

It should be something that reminds you that anxiety is only something your mind creates. Your mantra can be as long or as short as you like, so long as it reminds you of this.

Try to keep it positive, like a pep-talk to steer you away from unwanted anxious thoughts.

Dealing with Social Anxiety

The most important thing to remember when dealing with social anxiety is that you need to recognize your fears and work to overcome them. Avoiding interaction or using negative coping mechanisms will only ever make your anxiety worse.

If you are looking to overcome your anxiety by making new friends or starting to date, then join us today at Special Bridge. Our online social community is designed to help meet your social and emotional needs. So whether you want to find a romantic relationship or a simple lasting friendship, we can help you find your perfect matches.