We may be social creatures, but other people certainly can cause anxiety. Social anxiety is largely about being around (or even thinking about being around) others and a host of worries related to others' perceptions of us. Even if you don't experience social anxiety, other people can be difficult to deal with and cause worry, agitation, or general angst. Regardless of what type of frustration or anxiety some people might be causing in your life, you don't have to let them continue to negatively impact you. Here are three ways to deal with any type of anxiety about other people.

Taking steps to overcome anxiety is a positive action, but do you need a break from trying to reduce your anxiety? Learning about anxiety, gathering tools to beat it, and using those strategies in daily life are healthy initiatives to take charge of your mental health and wellbeing. When you take these steps, you empower yourself to break free from anxiety.

I’m far from the first person to discuss the above topic. However, I feel it is important to continually raise awareness of the social causes of anxiety until those causes are recognized more broadly.

Changes in technology and social norms create anxiety for people like me who avoid social media as much as possible. In previous posts on this blog, I’ve discussed my aversions to social media and how it almost certainly exacerbates anxiety. I’ve discussed ways to structure my life in order to better live with those aversions.

It can be extremely effective to deal with anxiety from the inside out even though anxiety is often caused--or exacerbated--by forces outside of us. That's because even if the cause of our anxiety is external, our reaction is internal and involves our entire mind (thoughts and feelings), brain (the physical organ and its structures and activities), and body (every part of our body is impacted by and can affect our anxiety). To help you reduce anxiety from deep within so you can calmly respond to stressors without, I offer you a mindfulness activity as well as information about why it works and when to do it.

I’ve always been one who enjoys traveling. However, as much as I like to travel, there is one part of the process that I’ve always been uncomfortable with: actually traveling. Traveling makes me anxious; more specifically, flying to my destination makes me anxious. I’ve been aware of this travel anxiety for as long as I began to fly regularly, but it’s only recently that I started to examine my feelings and determine why exactly traveling makes me so uncomfortable. Hopefully, this will resonate with others.

Anxiety can be an early warning sign, alerting us to the fact that something is wrong in our lives. Are you listening to your anxiety? Granted, anxiety doesn't feel great. In fact, it can feel downright terrible. It can cause us to overthink everything, often makes us emotional, and even makes us feel physically ill. It's natural to hate anxiety and struggle against it, pushing it away and trying to decrease the symptoms. We don't typically want to sit with it and listen to it. Sometimes, though, anxiety can be an early warning system, and listening to it might be one of the best things we can do for our wellbeing and the quality of our lives.

Anxiety and uncertainty seem to be at an all-time high. Some are experiencing problematic anxiety (anxious thoughts, emotions, and physical symptoms that interfere in daily life) for the first time, while others who have lived with it, including those with anxiety disorders, are finding that their symptoms continue to worsen. While there are no quick fixes for anxiety (and anxiety itself is part of the human condition), I offer you here a way to reduce anxiety and create inner peace in spite of all the uncertainty around us.

Many people experience both anxiety and depression, and I'm one of them. About a month ago, I had what’s called a major depressive episode. Though I am not at my lowest point anymore, I am still dealing with the aftereffects of that episode and probably will for some time. This is not the first time I’ve had to deal with such an episode, so I think it is appropriate to devote an entry to attempt to come to terms with it. Please forgive me if I don’t sound enthused; my drive continues to be shot. Despite that, I will do the best I can.

Self-care is highly recommended for managing and treating anxiety. Practicing self-care can, indeed, be very effective, allowing us to step away from stress and other anxiety-provoking situations to give ourselves a much-need break. Stepping away from the rush of daily life to reset can shift anxious thoughts and settle roiling emotions, allowing us to revitalize both physically and mentally--in theory, anyway. In practice, for many people with anxiety, engaging in self-care activities can actually cause more anxiety. What happens then?