Life Lessons at Colosoul: Neil
Social Anxiety and Self
Lately, I've been very preoccupied with different
stuff; working, university work, youth group practice, being a volunteer, and
above all that, trying to fit in time to catch up with old friends and meeting
new people. Most of my free time, people would ask if I want to grab lunch or
perhaps catch up. For some weird reason, I tend to curl up back to my shell and
always end up just staying home and rather watch Netflix and eat a whole tub of
ice cream in bed. I'm normally a jolly person who would be up to head to the
nearest Maccas just to satisfy my chicken nuggets cravings. Do you ever
experience that? Just me..? Honestly, the worst case is when you were supposed
to meet a potential date but your 'inner
gramma' just starts to take over and like the usual, you end up bedridden and
wasting another day of your life. In addition to that, ranting to your bestie
about how frustrating it is being single. It's not like I'm doing it on
purpose, but it's just something that is gradually taking over my emotions.
I've always been skeptical about mental problems; especially ones that involve
social interaction -- probably because I'm being denial. But before you close
this window and judge me for saying that, let me confirm; SOCIAL ANXIETY IS
REAL.
I don't know what the main reason is for this
happening. From researching, it only said that the cause is unknown too. But
it's that weird feeling of being scared to meet people, and it can seem like
you're just being lazy? It can seem and feel in different ways. It feels like
you are very nervous, worried and pressured even though there's really nothing
to be worried about. As cliche as it sound, perhaps this was a sign for me to
realize that it is indeed true. Perhaps I'm meant to share about it to the
world. If it wasn't for those experiences, then I wouldn't be typing this. But
it's quite sad because people (just like how I used to) think that it's not
anything serious. IT IS SERIOUS.
One day I opened up to the people at the office
(Colosoul) about this problem that I've been experiencing. Normally I'm not the
type that opens up that easily when it comes to my social problems and things
that I prefer to keep to myself. After opening up, I realized how many people
feel the same way. It was amazing to see that so many of my peers actually feel
the same way. What's more interesting is that the people who felt that way were
those who I thought seemed very confident and problem-free. This just proves
that social anxiety can be in different forms. It can be something that you
won't even notice, but it's already there. It's something important that we
should realize and educate ourselves about. So based on my personal experience,
before you start judging someone, make sure you know what's going on. At the
end of the day, whatever you notice about a person; both positive and negative
-- there's a deeper reason behind it.
0 comments :
Post a Comment