If you have the fear of being in any social situations where you need to interact with other people then you may be experiencing “social anxiety”; another term for “social phobia”. With this you will feel self-conscious, humiliated, embarrassed and have the feeling of inadequacy. You can visit https://socialanxietyquiz.tumblr.com/ to know more about it.
Such condition can happen normally to everyone but feeling like this all the time is no longer normal. But do you know that 75% of people are going through these symptoms at certain points of their life? However, they just experience this to a mild degree. But 15% of the population claimed that symptoms are severe and this is hampering their daily normal routine. Also, women have more tendency to experience social anxiety (5 times higher than men) and the typical symptoms include:
• Blushing
• Sweating
• Avoidance of social situations
• Shyness
The question is; is there a way to overcome these symptoms? The answer is a resounding “yes”. Here are some tips you can do to get over it:
• Redirect your nervousness
You can channel your energy from such feeling (unwanted anxiety) to a more productive one. You may use gestures as you talk, adding more to your confidence to speak to the public
• Practice
If you are asked to speak to a group of people, practice your speech well and perhaps start with a small audience who can give you feedback. Think of possible questions and rehearse the answers. Also, use similar materials that you will be using in your final presentation. Having adequate knowledge about the subject matter will add more confidence in you. And preparing a fallback plan will save you in case you do some major mistakes.
• Visualize
Imagine friendly faces to be present in the crowd; this will ease your anxiety.
• Act confidently
Learn to establish eye contact and have the right facial expression, body language and proper tone of voice. This will help you direct your mind to proper flow.
• Imagine the worst thing that can happen
Visualize the worst scenario that can happen and exaggerate it. Late, you will realize that this is not such a big deal after all.
• Audience preparation is important
You can break the ice with a joke and speak to your audience as if they are your friends. This will prepare them better to what you will say.
• Breathing exercises is important
As you take a deep breathe, this will improve blood flow and more oxygen goes to your brain. This helps augment mental alertness and better brain functioning.