It's a little more complicated than that with social anxiety. See, I'm always hiding in plain sight. The disorder makes it extremely difficult for me to actually be myself, so no one sees the real me.
yeah, no doubt. The obstacle for me right now is figuring out how to stop feeling like crap about this issue. I find that I can only stay focused on other things (e.g. personal goals) for a short period of time. I'm okay for like a week and then I end up falling back into feeling extremely depressed an angry.
Right then here's the tough love part. Take it or leave it.
As I always promote, when faced with a problem, there's only ever two choices: if something can be done to change the situation, then do it; if nothing can reasonably be done about it, then acceptance is the only other option. For example, if you want to lose weight, you can reasonably do things to achieve that - eat less, exercise more. If on the other hand you want to be taller, well sausage, that's more one for the acceptance file. .... you get the idea.
It's about being
logical and
pragmatic. It's about less of the wishy-washy emotions, feeling hard-done-by and more of the doing things.
In the current climate, men are being disenfranchised by society. Don't get me wrong, I get that. What myself and many others are
doing is taking it back. I could sit on my a$$ like you all day, feeling sorry for myself; we all could.....
Instead, I go out with my friends, which I have found,
all by myself, I go to the gym to stimulate endorphines and be in shape, play sports for competition and camaraderie with other guys, and when I go out and meet a girl I like, I tease her a bit and ask her to go out for a drink. It's really that simple.
Regards social anxiety.....
You know what's dangerous? Going to war is dangerous. Handling venomous animals, as a friend of mine does, is dangerous. Fighting fires and apprehending criminals is dangerous.
You know what's not dangerous? Approaching women. Going up, talking to a woman, even being rejected poses absolutely no thread to your personal safety WHATSOEVER (unless of course she's seriously mentally unstable). And don't give me any of this obvious 'easier-said-than-done' bullsh!t. You know, excuses are like a$$holes, everyone's got one and they all stink. If some bird rejects me nowadays, you know, my reaction is like, it's her loss. I know I'm a decent guy, so it's her mistake. And I'm done. Who cares. I'm gonna find a better one soon anyway.
Start by holding very brief conversations with people during the day. People you encounter anyway - colleagues, shop keepers, waiting staff, bar staff, anyone. It doesn't have to last more than ten seconds, but you have to start somewhere.
Remove the investment from the conversation and it will flow more easily. By that I mean don't expect to necessarily get anything from it; equally don't care what the other person thinks - it doesn't matter. What they think can't harm you.
Time to stop being a woe-is-me whiny little b!tch and man up sausage.
You'll thank me one day.