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HushFest is on the horizon. Cornwall’s festival of quietness, shaped by our community. |
Your personal experiences of feeling socially anxious, shy and not good enough and how this has affected your lives. Sharing your stories about how you have been stretching your comfort zones and growing confidence to move through anxious feelings to live a life aligned with who you really are.
Radio presenter, Chloé Eathorne, shares her experiences of shyness and social anxiety with us in this interview with Stacie Clark. Chloé’s show ‘The Wildflower Hour’ on Source FM, is an hour thriving with an eclectic mix of feel-good indie tunes alongside discussing all things art, poetry and mental health. What is your story and how can you relate…
Starting at sixth form, my shyness seemed to becoming more debilitating and I began to feel a lot worse about it. I struggled in class and socially, not feeling able to contribute in group situations, worrying excessively about ‘scary’ things such as presentations and debates, avoiding things that I didn’t feel able to cope with,…
Amanda from Cornwall was struggling with social anxiety when she was referred to Quiet Connections via the Positive People programme for coaching during the pandemic (we’re a specialist provider on the programme so Change Coaches can refer to us). Usually, coaching occurs walking and talking in-person, embracing the blue health benefits of the stunning coastal…
Five years ago, I sat on a bench outside a building and held back tears as panic started to kick in. I was attending a workshop and knew no one there. I was way out of my comfort zone, terrified that I might be asked to speak or have to do some kind of group…
As we gain more awareness and knowledge about how we think, feel and behave –and what happens for other people too- we can look back and make more sense of our experiences. I used to take things seriously and as absolute. I can see now that much of my pain came from believing everything I…
#SpeakingTheUnspoken Hello to my younger self, I know that being a teenager is hard but let me just tell you that even so soon as your early twenties you’ll be looking back with fondness and nostalgia at all the things you got up to and all the things that you managed to get through. I…
Over time, I’ve noticed a switch in my mentality. From taking a powerless perspective of things happening to me, completely wrapped up in how I felt at the time, to being able to focus on what I’ve learnt from those situations. Essentially, I’ve been moving from taking a negative and powerless view of my experiences…
One big assumption that people often make about introverts is that we hate going to parties. More often than not, as an introvert with anxiety, this assumption is correct for me. But as I have grown older, the definition of a party has changed. A few years ago, an invite to a party would conjure…
As I was driving, alone in the darkness, tears streaming down my face, despair took over and told me how easy it would be to end my pain right here, right now, high speed. The tears came the moment I reached the sanctuary of my car. This had been building up for some time but…
Feelings of social anxiety seem to have happened gradually for me; they kind of crept up on me into adulthood. So I started thinking about how the development of society may have subconsciously affected me, such as the “big brother” phenomena, the rise of public CCTV placement instilling the idea of being continually watched, without…
Have you ever thought about joining a community gardening group, but lacked the confidence to do so? If yes, you are like me a few years ago before I discovered my hidden garden guru. I wanted to find out more about gardening and wasn’t sure what to do next. So I signed up for an…
Looking back, I never used to feel “socially anxious” whilst growing up. I remember feeling shy as a kid when meeting relatives or strangers, but even when I first started working I felt okay. Anxious feelings kind of crept up on me into adulthood and, I think for me personally, feelings of social anxiety occurred…