Tips To Manage Social Anxiety after You Leave Lockdown
For the past few months, our social calendar has remained blank. Filling this calendar back might feel liberating or can cause anxiety. Do you know the feeling, when the heart starts beating faster and palms get sweaty when we face overwhelmed with an event or task in hand?
That’s anxiety. It’s the natural response of our body to stress.
For managing anxiety attacks, one has to identify the triggers. This helps with managing and coping with the situation. If you have not been able to do so, some of the common ones can be:
The first-day work, Giving a presentation, Meeting new people.
The triggers can be different for everyone. And now, as we are slowly getting back to social routine after isolating for a long time, it can bring out the anxiety. One of the ways to ease it is by socializing at one’s own pace and self-care.
As we begin to socialize more in person, the following steps can help you to manage anxiety in a much better way:
1. Ease Your Way Back In:
For people that are living with social anxiety need to slowly enter social life. This is going to make you feel comfortable in a situation that was difficult for you earlier. You don’t need to take the big leap at once.
Begin with connecting people that are in the closest inner circle first.
Usually, this is the comfort space as people that are around you are the ones that you trust. These are also people with whom you can be honest with the way you feel. Once you feel that you are ready, start reaching people out that you enjoy being around but might need a bit more effort. Eventually, you will be able to expand your circle, and to situations that had earlier made you anxious.
The idea is to be in a situation that makes you a bit anxious and then wait for some time until you calm down.
If you don’t want to face people now, that’s okay too. Just start with phone conversations or video calls. Slowly meet with friends for interaction, how about a socially distanced walk with your dear ones?
2. Visualize The Situation In Your Mind:
Some of the specific worries that you have can be prepared for. For instance, if you were going to meet a friend at the park, mentally plan the meetup and how you will like it to go. Visualize all that you will talk about, how you will greet them etc. Try avoiding auto-thinking. So when you are around new people, instead of thinking they will make fun of you, try: They are also stuck in their homes for months, we’ll exchange stories.
3. It’s Okay to Be Scared:
It might seem that no one else is scared to be back in the normal world. But its also acceptable for having a reaction of your own on the situations that make you anxious. Remember that nobody else had faced this modern world situation. And there is no ‘right’ way.
It is fine to have your doubts and uncertainties and even the experts don’t have the answer to everything.
If anything makes you feel uncomfortable or puts one at risk, you are not obligated to it. Several factors might affect you when you feel it will be the best time to start going out. These can be age, quarantine situation, health history, or anxiety while you take the next step in the outside world.
Share the feelings of fear and panic with people that are closest to you.
It’s fine to be embarrassed about these feelings, in case you have always been the center of attention at a party. But everybody feels a bit overwhelmed by the changes, especially when a lot of time has been spent alone.
I can assure you, that at least one of the closest people you have is feeling the same thing. And they will be more than happy and relieved that you spoke about it.
4. Self Care Is Priority:
Make your physical health a priority. Meditate, learn breathing exercises, write a journal. Also, talk to your friends and family about the doubts and fears. All of this is the practical part of anxiety management.
As there is no playbook, we have to depend on trying to be in the present moment. Also, make sure that we have some reliable spaces in life as well, will navigate the space that makes us feel being out of control.
Understand that people that proactively work on mental health, get better equipped for handling the unknown.
It’s like doing mental push-ups. So when things get difficult around, you will be well equipped with core tools that will make you come back and feel grounded.
5. Never Hesitate To Get Professional Help:
If you have tried dealing with your social anxiety, and it’s still interfering with your ability to cope up, it is time to reach out. Seek professional help and trust me, it’s fine. I assure you that it will make things easier for you. There are times when we need medications to deal with mental illness, just like any other disease.
You will get better, and there is hope.
Anxiety, depression is real. So if you feel you are alone, you’re not. There are millions of people dealing with it right now. It’s fine to take professional help. It’s alright to talk about it to your friends and family. And I’m right here to talk to, reach out to me anytime. 🙂
