3 Subtle Ways Social Anxiety Can Show Up Everyday

When I look back over my life, I can see a consistent pattern of these 3 things showing up. For a long time, I just felt like this is the way I am, and always will be.

Can you relate? 👇

• Saying “Yes” when you want to say “No”. And saying “No” to something you do actually want.
• Pretending you don’t have an opinion – when you do. Agreeing with others statements, when in fact, you disagree. And even staying silent when you do agree… just in case someone asks you to elaborate and share more!
• Second guessing your decisions. Especially when you start to think about other people being involved. Best to leave it to everyone to decide what’s good right?

I remember all those times I said “No” to wanting a drink of water that was being offered, even when I was thirsty. Pretending I had no idea what bands people were talking about to avoid offering up my opinions, even when I had been listening to their album on repeat. And all the times I was like “Yes this is great!”, until I started to think about what others would think or how they would respond. Which of course, in my mind, was always “They’ll think it’s s***”.

Thinking, feeling, wanting one thing… doing the opposite. Aargh it’s no wonder I’ve spent so much time confused about who I am! And of course, after years and years of living this way – out of alignment, basically – it’s easy to eventually FORGET who we truly are beneath all of these anxiety driven behaviours. (I don’t know about you, but I have found myself asking the question “Who am I?!” repeatedly throughout my 30 years on this earth!).

What I’ve come to learn from my own deep diving and explorations, is that there are a number of things going on here. One of them being, we’ve disconnected from our intuition, or we don’t trust it. The process of realigning with ourselves and exploring who we truly are, isn’t always that easy. The chances are you’re going to come face to face with that one thing we’re all trying to avoid, and it needs to be named… Shame.

Exploring who we truly are is one of the greatest adventures you can embark on. And, just like any true explorer, you’ll benefit from having some vitals tools and support you as you set sail on your quest of discovery.

Want to walk this path with like-minded people? Join the Quiet Community today.