When FEAR becomes your closest Enemy
About Social Anxieties in Adolescents
Are you most of the time afraid of making a fool of yourself and thinking that everybody is judging you when you are in public?
You might struggle even to open the door for the postman, take the school bus or have a snack in the school cafeteria.
Thinking about holding a speech in front of the task makes you feel dizzy and troubles your stomach.
Are you avoiding talking to strangers, going to parties or meeting new people?
Your mind is always full of negative thoughts, worries and hopelessness.
Even if you try hard, your body is alarming you that something is not okay and makes you avoid those situations to feel safe again.
You might have created your cave, where nobody and nothing can threaten you. You prefer to be alone, rather than being in public, in the centre of attention.
As a result of constant worrying and withdrawal, you experience more and more negative thoughts about yourself, the past and the future.
You are not alone with your FEARS!
According to research in the UK, 1 in 10 young people experience a mental health disorder and ANXIETY, and DEPRESSION are the most common mental health difficulties and have high co-morbidity (Green et al. 2005).
School learning, stress tolerance, confidence, motivation, and personal relationships will be adversely affected (Layard 2008).
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/get-help/anxiety-information/young-people-and-anxiety/
What about your strengths and goals?
There might be another voice in yourself: questioning how to deal with your fear. You want to overcome your struggle to enjoy whatever you do and fulfil your goals without caring about the opinion of others.
Many youngsters are not aware of their strengths and abilities, though. This can have many reasons but what matters is the motivation to change and having family members to support you.
FACE YOUR FEARS!
You can learn step by step to overcome any fear if you want to!
First of all, find somebody you trust to talk to about it. It could be your parents, close friends, doctors or therapists.
There are many strategies to help you with, and you don´t need to go through them yourself.
I have witnessed youngsters overcoming their fears and being able to do things they couldn`t even think of.
It might not always be easy. You will sweat, struggle and question while leaving your safe place and facing your fears.
But it will be a journey worth taking.
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Published on 2018/12/19
Posted in: Children and Adolescents, Mental Health, Social Anxiety,
