What I wish my friends knew about how introversion and social anxiety affects our relationships
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What I wish my friends knew about how introversion and social anxiety affects our relationships

My dear friends, How are you? It seems like an age since we last spoke, and even longer since I last saw you. I understand that you must see me as a terrible friend. I hardly make time to see you anymore. I don’t seem to start conversations on messenger. I rarely text or give…

How to use the balanced breathing technique for anxiety
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How to use the balanced breathing technique for anxiety

Managing anxiety Your body’s response to stress is triggered automatically by a part of your nervous system that you have little control over. This takes you out of a calm and balanced state and puts you into a state of ‘fight or flight’, altering your heart rate, blood pressure and your breathing. This is when…

Mindset tips for overcoming nervousness in speaking
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Mindset tips for overcoming nervousness in speaking

At April’s Speaking Connections gathering, we spent some time sharing the valuable tips that our members are already using in overcoming nervousness in speaking. This is one of a two-part post sharing our members’ wisdom. Look out for our previous post passing on the gatherings practical tips. Getting into the right frame of mind What can you do to relax before an…

Practical tips for overcoming nervousness in speaking
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Practical tips for overcoming nervousness in speaking

At April’s Speaking Connections gathering, we spent some time sharing the valuable tips that our members are already using in overcoming nervousness in speaking. This is one of a two-part post sharing our members’ wisdom. Look out for our next post passing on the gatherings mindset tips. Practising and using prompts One of the best ways to ease the anxiety…

Are you thinking your way into anxiety
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How you might be thinking your way into anxiety

How is it possible that two people can experience the same situation so differently? How can one person feel confident while the other is anxious? Because our thoughts and feelings seem real to us, we believe they must be true. But what if they’re not? Could we just be jumping to conclusions? The way you think…

3 top tips for talking to people when you feel socially anxious
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3 top tips for talking to people when you feel socially anxious

The one that doesn’t speak Have you always been the quiet one? The one that doesn’t speak? Me too. I’d listen to friends’ discussions from the sidelines. I’d hear the constant chatter, but I wouldn’t chip in. I didn’t know how to talk to people. Did I have any thoughts worth sharing? I often couldn’t…

What your child learns when people call them ‘shy’
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What your child learns when people call them ‘shy’

Don’t call my child shy I know, I know; it’s so easy to do, right? Every parent wants to raise a confident child. Yet, you say hello to a child and he buries his face in his mummy’s shoulder. The next words that come out of your mouth are something like “Aww he’s shy” or “You…