Helpful tips and personal stories. Exploring relationships and connecting with others when you’re feeling socially anxious, shy and not good enough. You are not alone.
I’m a quiet person. Usually. I get quieter in groups. More so when people are new to me. And because of this, I’ve been misunderstood a lot in my life. I’ve been assumed to be rude, disinterested, stuck up, bitchy, and to dislike people, amongst other things. But that’s not me at all. I’ve always…
Are those of us experiencing social anxiety happier alone? It would be easy to assume that someone experiencing social anxiety is happier alone than with other people. After all, feeling socially anxious means fearing social situations and, to avoid potential rejection, criticism and ridicule, we tend to avoid social interactions. This belief can fuel our…
Are you a people pleaser? Do you often say ‘yes’ when you really want to say ‘no’? Do you find yourself feeling resentful and like you’re being taken advantage of? You’re not alone. So many of us find ourselves in this place too; feeling unable to ask for what we need, say no to people…
Are you anxious about coming out of your lockdown cocoon and reconnecting as ‘normality’ returns? Worried your social skills will have taken a dive? Feeling like you’re the only one not looking forward to socialising again? The reality is that many people are experiencing anxiety about a post-pandemic return to ‘normal’. As much as we…
Dating is not easy… Dating is one of those things that we tend to think we ‘should’ be able to do because other people seem to find it so easy. But the truth is that dating isn’t easy -and this is true even for people who don’t experience social anxiety regularly. I promise, it’s not…
What if you knew that the way you see the world isn’t the same as reality? If you were to train as an NLP Practitioner like me, one of the very first things you’d learn is that your thoughts aren’t reality. It turns out that we respond to our own internal representation of the world…
I spent my childhood loving a man who I called Grandad. When I was 11, a series of events led to a situation whereby I found myself on the receiving end of the bitterness, anger, aggression and hostility stored within him; and just like that, I casted him as a villain in my life, soon…
We all know that thoughtful feedback shared with us from a place of compassion helps us to grow, even if this isn’t always easy to hear. But there are some people who seem to spend much of their life hurling judgement and critical ‘advice’ at others with very little consideration and compassion behind it. Hurtful…
In true nerdy fashion, I’m sat in my pre-booked seat at 18:45 (because hey, you can’t leave it to chance to get good seats on the night), finally watching the heavily anticipated film, Joker. If you monitor ‘movie news’ you will already know it is being met with controversial reception. While I respect the opinions…
You know how it is when you get talking to someone and that quiet excitement bubbles up inside because they feel so aligned with where you are and it’s almost like the universe has sent them your way? Well, I was lucky enough to have one of those awesome connections yesterday. It’s funny to think…
Most of the time I feel like I’m running late for my own life; while everyone else seems to be on time for theirs or maybe even ahead of schedule. Sometimes, I wish I lived in outer space. In space, time doesn’t matter like it does here on earth. I lay in bed, unable to…
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…