Overcome Shyness and Change Your Life
Shyness is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a social phobia. Depending on the degree of introversion they have, some people may actually find that it can be debilitating, depriving them of a healthy social life. It not only affects their relationships, it also affects their careers, keeping people from performing at their best and making use of opportunities that come their way.
Overcoming shyness is a process and will take time. But each step you make will reward you by boosting your confidence level and making you a better person who is self-assured and can take on anything thrown your way. Here’s how:
1. Figure out the source of your shyness. You might find that certain situations trigger your shyness and cause you to fold onto yourself and allow your worries and anxieties to overcome you. Once you recognize these situations, you can then find ways to handle them more effectively.
For example, you might feel most shy during social parties but don’t feel the same way during family affairs or office occasions. It may be that your shyness is brought about by stranger anxiety, considering that you only feel shy around people you don’t know. Once you recognize this, you can then adjust yourself to the situation accordingly.
2. Realize that it’s perfectly natural to feel shy sometimes. You can’t be forward and overly confident in every situation. You will always find that there are times when you feel a little hesitant and tongue-tied, especially if something is new and unfamiliar. It’s perfectly all right to feel shy when you’re meeting someone new or when you’re going somewhere you’ve never been before.
3. Don’t berate yourself for being shy. Overcoming shyness means affirming yourself as an individual and as a person. If you feel shy, don’t tell yourself that you’re stupid and that you’ll never amount to anything. More negative thoughts will fabricate negative thoughts. The last thing you want to do is to become your own worst critic.
Instead, accept that you are shy but that you are working towards overcoming it and becoming a more confident person. By telling yourself it’s all right and that you’re taking positive steps to improve your condition, you unburden yourself.
4. Change your posture. Believe it or not, actually changing the way you stand and walk can do a lot to overcoming shyness. Slouching and keeping your chin close to your chest will only make other people look at you more, increasing your self-consciousness and anxiety.
Keep your chin up, your shoulders level, your stomach tucked in, your arms a little loose and your legs relaxed. Breathe in heavily and exhale slowly several times to calm yourself. Do this before doing anything such as public speaking, entering a party, speaking to someone, etc. Breathing in allows you to set a natural, calm rhythm that helps you walk steadily and speak in your natural voice.
5. Prepare. If you’re going to a party and not know a single soul there, you might as well find out something about them. If not their names, find out what they do, what the crowd’s general interests are and what they will be like. Knowing what you’re getting into sheds half of the shyness factor and makes you feel more confident.
Keep a mental list of things that you can use during conversations. Neutral topics are a good start and do not put pressure on you or to anyone to produce information or expert opinion. You’ll feel more at ease if you have something to contribute to the conversation.
6. Make small steps towards overcoming your shyness. You can’t expect to live the rest of your life cooped up in some small part of your little universe hoping for a miracle to happen. Even Cinderella had to step out of her glass slipper in order to find a new and rewarding life. You can never overcome shyness if you don’t go out there and interact with people.
Start small. Smile at the girl behind the counter of the perfume shop, say hi to the teller at the bank, nod to someone who lives in your building. If they acknowledge your greeting, good for them. If they don’t, it only shows their lack of manners.
7. Take risks. After you’ve known the feeling of taking little risks, it’s probably time to take bigger risks. Change is always scary but isn’t that what you want? Do something you’ve never done before like eating out alone, going on trips by yourself, volunteering for a task, taking lead in a group. You’ll be surprised at how easy it will be once you’ve gotten started.
8. Acknowledge that it’s not about you. Self-conscious behavior stems from the belief that you are the focal point of people’s attentions when in fact they have other things in mind. Practice shifting your focus to other people and develop an interest in them.
By keeping the spotlight focused on someone else, you keep attention away from yourself. If you do this on occasions when you feel particularly shy, you will overcome the feeling of being concentrated on. Instead, you learn to socialize effectively and enjoy yourself.
9. Affirm! Scott Adams (creator of ‘Dilbert’) uses affirmation to strengthen his resolve. Even life coach guru Brian Tracy encourages people to affirm themselves. Affirmation is the closest thing you can get to a magic potion in overcoming your shyness. It will not transform you overnight but it can massage your subconscious into focusing on your assets and building your confidence.
10. Practice. From your posture to your voice to the way you introduce yourself, techniques for overcoming shyness should be practiced to be perfected. By practicing them, you slowly integrate them into your thinking and mannerisms. This makes you feel that they’ve always been a natural process with you. As you shed your shyness little by little, you will find small but measurable improvements that boost your self-assurance.
Bill Urell
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/overcome-shyness-and-change-your-life-134672.html
Anxiety Sweating – How To Prevent It?
Excessive sweating of any kind can have a damaging effect on a person’s moral, confidence level and psyche. It is even more detrimental when it comes to anxiety sweating. Anxiety sweating is related to anxiety disorder or panic attacks, and because of this, the person suffering may have a whole range of related symptoms in addition to the disproportionate sweating. These supplementary symptoms can include but are not limited to fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, irritability and memory problems. It sometimes requires professional help to bring it under control.
People with this disorder usually suffer with related social phobias where they are uncomfortable being embarrassed, which can be accompanied by excessive fear. This becomes cyclic in that the person sweating is scared of being embarrassed which raises the stress level. The person sweats more profusely because they are under stress and afraid and it goes around and around. Because anxiety sweating is unlike other types of sweating, it can lead to something called cyclic anxiety sweating. The cycle must be broken with professional help at this point. Fortunately, social phobias are highly responsive to medical treatments.
When you have an anxiety disorder, sweating is a very common symptom. No one is sure what starts the sweating but there are some identifiable triggers. Anger, nervousness, and fear are some surefire starters, but no one really knows why stress triggers so much more sweating in some people than in others. Regular antiperspirants don’t work with this kind of disorder, and some people who have an extreme case will resort to more drastic methods such as surgery to help them curb or control their anxiety sweating.
If the condition is mild, a good way to cut down on the number of attacks and ultimately prevent anxiety sweating altogether is to learn to relax through holistic methods like meditation, so that the stress level is reduced naturally. The nervous tension can be minimized which will cause the anxiety symptoms to abate. Removal from the stressful situation, if possible, is an excellent remedy in many cases.
If this doesn’t work, a person might need to seek psychiatric or professional intervention. A person suffering from moderate to severe anxiety sweating can find respite by seeking cognitive therapy as a viable alternative treatment or even as part of the physical management aspect provided by the psychiatrist in the form of medication. Anxiety disorder medication has proven to be of great help in most situations.
Studies have shown that proper treatment, balancing medication with cognitive-behavioral therapy, helps a large percentage of people with panic disorder and anxiety sweating. Therapy can, and has, helped many people deal with their anxiety issues. At times, just learning how to deal with these situations when they arise helps the person avert an impending anxiety attack, reduces the symptoms and the associated sweating problems.
By: Alex Olson (Download Free Anxiety Treatment)
About the Author:
Researching and learning about such health problem as anxiety sweating, Alex Olson became a specialist in this sphere. In her articles you will find all the necessary information about sweating disorder, its causes and treatment.
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