Borg166 Wrote:
This is kind of embarrasing, but does anyone else suffer from social anxiety? I've been shy my whole life and never felt totally comfortable interacting with strangers, but sometimes it gets a bit extreme.
For example, I was at Best Buy today with some gift cards and wanted to pick up a few CDs, but as I was standing in line, I suddenly started panicking and had to leave the line and the store without purchasing anything. I know it's ridiciulous, but I just couldn't bring myself to interact with the cachier. This happens a lot at the grocery store too.
I'm seriously thinking about seeing a psychiatrist about this because it's really messing up my social life.
On all those personality tests (real ones given at work, not just online ones) I'm rated at nearly 100% introvert, so I really understand what you're saying.
I'm a very, very bad public speaker - I sound like George Bush half the time, stumbling through my words and reconsidering what I'm saying halfway through. I would prefer talking on the phone to talking in person to a new person, but email's preferred overall for almost all communication.
If there's a big social event of any kind coming up, I will attempt to psyche myself up for it, then the day of find someway out of it. I've missed a few concerts this way - even shows I actually really wanted to see.
I've often gone to the self-checkout lanes at the grocery store just to not deal with people, even if I have a lot of stuff to checkout. And, besides, I pack my groceries better than the bag-boys do. Advantage: introversion.
I find it very tiring and stressful dealing with lots of people. Overwhelming is probably a better word. After dealing with people, I'm mentally exhausted. Avoidance is my current tactic. Like other people have said, it's a problem if you feel it's a problem. I'm okay simply avoiding situations that stress me out, but if it gets to a point where I feel I'm missing out, then it's time to do something about it. Luckily, I'm an only child and a loner by nature, so not hanging around tons of people is the preferred choice anyway and always has been.
What I don't like is that people think I don't like them because I don't go to their parties and stuff. I've tried explaining in the past, and they claim to understand, but they don't - they think that "this time" will be an exception or whatever. As I've told them in the past, I tell them again - one on one is fine, but in a group, I'm going to clam up, find a seat near the TV, and disappear. "It's not you, or your party, or anyone at your party in particular. It's parties in general." It never gets through.