Try being funny! And if that does not work, then just ignore all the people you embarrassed yourself in front of for the rest of your life.

I'm no doctor, Though it sounds like a self confidence issue. Have you ever considered learning a martial arts, it would do wonders for your self image. (ー_ーゞ

You can try this, it helped me a lot: Make a notebook of all the physical symptoms you experience, and what situation you were in at the time you experienced them. It may take awhile to get a lot of data, but you may be able to compile a lot from memory. Make a kind of chart to reference what situations cause what symptoms. Example: Nausea - trying to order pizza on the phone being the only one home when the doorbell rings talking to a stranger Dizziness/almost passing out- internship group activity where I need to be the center of attention public speaking Hyperventilating- public speaking Sweaty palms- being around my crush Loss of appetite- trying to eat in public Etc. Once you have a decent list, put the symptoms and situations that cause them in order of how important they are to do, and how much pressure you are under during them Example: Eating, sleeping - most important, basic needs for life - eating in public is a lot of pressure, depending on upcoming activity, can lose sleep, usually lose the most sleep before group activities, group activities are lots of pressure Public speaking - somewhat important for school projects - decent amount of pressure talking to strangers - not terribly important except in rare circumstances - lots of pressure Then take the most important things, in this case, eating and sleeping, and figure out how to do them in a way that either A- doesn't cause the symptoms, or B- in a way that you can treat the symptoms So if eating in public is difficult, find places to eat where you don't feel the pressure of people staring at you. Eat at home, or find a place alone if you have to grab lunch at school or work. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but we will come back to this. The idea right now is to make a super quick fix so that you are eating properly, and then work on the anxiety of eating in public later on. This is an example of doing the activity differently in order to avoid symptoms. Sleeping is difficult before big events, and it's difficult to avoid those events. Sometimes even small things can become big and make you lose sleep. This one may be easier to treat the symptoms of as opposed to changing your behavior. If when trying to sleep you have knots in your stomach, feel like you're falling, and other symptoms mainly focused on the stomach, then try an antacid like Zantac before you go to bed. If symptoms are all over the place, maybe try a non addictive sleep aid, anything from a warm glass of milk to a melatonin pill, but starting any medication should be something you talk to a doctor about. Hardcore sleeping pills aren't something I reccomend, but if you can take them safely, without getting dependent, they may be a decent, temporary, last resort. This is an example of treating the symptoms. For me , I'd have anxiety all the time, it felt like spikes of adrenaline stabbing my stomach from the inside. Sometimes my face would get hot and tingly, even numb, along with my shoulders, hands, it was terrible. When I found an over the counter antacid medication that worked for me, the feelings were a million times easier to deal with because I wasn't distracted by the physical symptoms, which were overwhelming. Another bonus was that I didnt have to go on anti anxiety medication or anti depressants which I had been on before and really did not like the side effects. This may be kind of a convoluted post and I haven't explained it very well, if so, feel free to ask questions or for clarification. The basic idea is to avoid anxiety-causing situations that you can at first, while treating the physical symptoms that you can with just the mildest over the counter stuff. After a bit, you hopefully can eat better, sleep better, and get to a healthier frame of mind and body, which will then make it much easier to deal with some of the less important situations. When you get to this point, self analyze. What are the feelings you have about yourself hat cause these symptoms? You may already know, but it's not good to focus on them until you've gotten to this point. Perhaps self image issues are the cause of anxiety when you eat in public, if so, then start analyzing and dealing with that. There are a ton of techniques and a lot of possibilities, so I wont fo into a bunch of specifics, but feel free to reply or DM me if you want more detailed advice or have questions. Once you are at a point that it doesn't feel like death just to be in a group project or eat in public, you can start practicing being more assertive and proactively social, which will be super difficult at first, but if you can get by just a bit, will really help overall. It is very difficult and takes time and dedication, so please feel free to reach out with more specific questions, I'm here to help if you want to make a plan and work on it. I wish you the best my friend!

Dude my main youth pastor. Has a major anxiety problem. He was diagnosed with it when he was 17 I think. Do ou want one of his videos on it

Ask yourself why does it matter what the other person thinks. You’ll find you can’t come up with a factual reason. And when you do, it will become less scary. Source: myself. Went from autismo 100 to alpha as -blam!- in 6 months.

I dont know what to tell you besides knowing that people do not care at all. I mean, there is no harm that they can cause to you. In a situation as school, just know that 99% of the people around you probably will not remember you or any actions that you take. Just dont be afraid to do what you want. Keep in mind that they dont know you. I can somewhat feel what you're going through, I hope you can get through it...

Practise. There isn’t really any way to become comfortable in a social situation without getting to grips with what to do in social situations. However, every persons situation is their own and each require their own solutions. The best thing would probably be a therapist. Edit: while it may not be related, I tend to match people footsteps by sound unconsciously while in corridors. Don’t really know why

[quote]Is there anything I can do about it and dont feel so stressed?[/quote] Practice, maybe pop by a shrink.

What helped me work past my social anxiety was practice. I talked with people a lot until I grew more comfortable with it. This might not work for everyone, but it certainly did for me. [spoiler]My mission for my church was certainly one of the bigger sources of practice. I had to role play different scenarios and learn how to talk with others. Maybe having someone to practice with like a friend or family member could help.[/spoiler]

My parents recently noticed and pointed out I had become underweight and started eating less. We went to the doctor and a specialist about it, I don't have any sort of eating disorder but may have some kind of anxiety that led to becoming underweight because someone called me fat a few years ago while I was being bullied. Also I get really nervous/anxious easily, so the specialist said that they'll refer me to some other professional help for that to see if they can help with anxiety/stress/confidence and see if there are any problems like anxiety. I'd just suggest you go and find some kind of specialist to help to see if there's a problem and if there is then they may be able to help. Tl;dr: Seek professional help to see if there's a problem and try to fix it if there is one.

Read "the subtle art of not giving a f#ck"

[quote]My entire life, I thought that is was normal to get stressed in situations where I need to talk to strangers. I cant even order a pizza with a call. I got very dizzy multiple times in interships and thought that I'll pass out. Even at school when I eat something I feel weird and think that others are looking at me while Im eating. But I did some research and found out that its probably social anxiety. Is there anything I can do about it and dont feel so stressed? [spoiler]perhaps you could join the void...[/spoiler][/quote] Realise nobody cares about what you're doing as much as you think and your actions are more normal than your insecurity would have you believe. That's what I did.

Think about it like this, do you judge someone on the way they are eating? If you work, do you judge a customer who calls in and sounds normal? The answer is probably no since you seem like a normal guy. Luckily for you, most people are normal too and the ones who would judge you are people who you should ignore anyways. If you have trouble grappling with your anxiety after switching perspectives, I'd recommend that you just go for it. It sounds really stupid, but if you just jump in, you won't have time to doubt yourself

Welcome to the party! Though no one talks to anyone at this party...

Hoss, if I was in your shoes and I am guessing here based on your wording, but go get a real diagnosis that doesn't come from the internet, but a licensed medical professional. If you already have done that step and I misunderstood you, then forgive me and ignore that first paragraph. I would spend some time with a therapist developing ways to handle it and trying them to see what works and what doesn't.

The unhealthy solution to your problem is to become a shut-in loser who works from home. The healthy solution... Uhhh, I'd just force interaction with people IRL, that might help your problem, join a club or something, idk.

Meditation is really helpful if you have the ability to do so. By meditation I mean just calming yourself away from other people, I normally just close my eyes, think of my favorite place, and listen to music. [spoiler]this all came from my therapist, who I'm not even seeing anymore due to how much she helped me.[/spoiler]

[quote]Thoughts are not facts.[/quote]

I've had social anxiety my whole life, and it never goes away. The biggest thing you can do is to learn how to keep yourself happy and healthy when you're [i]not[/i] in those frightening situations. For me, the worst part was always the [i]before[/i]. [i]Before[/i] I go to school. [i]Before[/i] I make that phone call. [i]Before[/i] I meet my friends. So it's important to keep yourself as calm as possible before the event, and then bring yourself back down after the frightening event is over. But to be honest, I never found a way of dealing with anxiety during those events. And that's been a huge problem my whole life. So if you can, try and find a way of easing the actual event once you've subdued the befores and afters.

I don’t haveth much advice but bump