Reduce Social Anxiety, Focus on Your Strengths
Social anxiety can be a miserable experience. Symptoms range from mild to extreme, but regardless of the degree of severity, the feeling it creates is miserable. When we're plagued by a fear of being judged, and not just judged but judged negatively, it's hard to relax and enjoy interactions with others.
Social Anxiety and Self-Doubt
A big component of social anxiety is self-doubt. With social anxiety, it's common for people to be hard on themselves, to recognize all perceived shortcomings and weaknesses. Have you ever worried before a social event, fretted during it, then obsessed through the night afterward, rehashing all the thing you did wrong and finding evidence that people think you're ridiculous? When we do things like that, we're focusing on our perceived weaknesses.
One way to break that self-doubt is to begin to focus on your strengths. Look for the good in you, positive things about who you are and what you can do. Focusing on your strengths takes your attention away from any weaknesses you fear you have, and in doing so, you're taking power away from dreaded social anxiety.
In this brief social anxiety video, I examine this a bit more.
More information on Social Anxiety
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APA Reference
Peterson, T.
(2013, November 17). Reduce Social Anxiety, Focus on Your Strengths, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 2 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/anxiety-schmanxiety/2013/11/focusing-on-strengths-can-reduce-social-anxiety