Social anxiety, the silent illness that will make you live inside a box. Do you feel like you wish all the people on the planet was gone?. Perhaps you feel like having a conversation with a new person is worse than going to the dentist?. Maybe you want a richer social life but something is holding you back, and you don’t know what it is?.

If you experience the above or similar things, you might be suffering from social anxiety. Don’t worry, there are things you can do to right now to release you from the anxiety prison.

5 things that will beat social anxiety

1. Break the habit – If you walk to work every morning, using the same route as the day before. You know that it is exactly 39 steps from your door to the first right turn. This is all good and efficient, but horrible for you anxiety. Try to take a different path to or from work, maybe a left instead of a right. See something new and break the pattern, this will wake up your brain from its sleep.
   
2. Use a bench – No I promise you that we won’t work out. When you are out there walking your new paths from work and see a bench, take a seat for 5 minutes or more. Not because you have to but because it will show you that you are okay with people passing you and noticing you. Your brain will eventually learn that it’s okay to be seen and that it will not kill you. ( Note: when you sit, you sit, no phone, book, or other distraction. just you and bench ).
3. What time is it? – It’s 11:44, done!. I did not mean like that. When out cruising the streets, ask a stranger for the time. I know you have a fully charged smart phone in your back pocket fully capable of telling the time. Don’t use it, ask a stranger and you will be amazed of how good you feel afterwards. It might be hard and awkward at first – but will you die – NO!
   
4. Remove the earphones – Listening to music when you are outside can be very relaxing, but it will put you in a safe bubble. Turn off the music, take out the earphones and listen to your surrounding. Be present in the moment.
   
5. Force yourself – This might be weird but after all you need to force yourself to do this in the beginning, it’s completely normal. If you take the car to work or if you live close to your school, you need to get out there anyway. Don’t just go home and watch HBO, go out into the world and expose yourself to it. Take a walk to the supermarket instead of using the car or just take a walk without any goal…just walk around and explore your city.

Obviously this takes time, you will not beat social anxiety on you first day out. But if you are persistent and keep trying you will see changes. After all you might not even notice the changes. If you don’t, sit down and reflect upon it; then you will notice that you now with ease can go up to a stranger and ask what time it is, since your phone died. Something you thought was impossible 5 weeks ago.

You will get there!