What's wrong with me?!

[Izzytheanxietyqueen]

Hey, I'm 15 and still in high school. I have experienced over the past few years a lot of health anxiety but in the last year I have noticed something else too, I'm a very generally nervous person around people and I don't know if this is social anxiety or not I mean I don't get panic attacks from this and usually I feel nothing physically but it's hard to explain around people even in just a classroom environment or in a hallway I feel the need to look down at the ground, I feel so scared people are judging me somehow, I get really clumsy and can't control my body very well around people I usually drop things or trip or something. Then when I speak to people it's very hesitant and I usually mess up words and say the wrong thing and get all nervous even if it's one of my close friends I don't know what's happening and what it is?! Please someone tell me I'm not insane :(

[debs71]

No, you are not insane, hun......just anxious.

Many of us - myself big time - can relate. I suffer from generalised anxiety and panic attacks, and I never used to have a problem socially, bar the fact I have always been shy since childhood, but I have developed a kind of mild social anxiety since my problems with GAD, and I think that it is all part of the anxiety thing as a whole.

I find I feel uncomfortable in queues in shops, and when it is my turn at the cashier's desk. I struggle to make eye contact, and get jittery. It is an odd feeling to explain....just an underlying nervousness.

You are not crazy, will not go crazy....it is just anxiety causing nerves that interfere with interaction with others. I have even had it with family members at times.

I think it is frustrating too, as when you notice that you do this socially, you then become so self-aware that it makes you MORE anxious, and then makes things worse! It is a tough one, but nothing sinister, just very annoying.x :hugs:

[Izzytheanxietyqueen]

Thankyou so much that helps to know I'm not alone in this!! I get that when I'm in lines waiting to get on the bus for school and the bus driver asks me for my bus pass I get so anxious then and I shake like a leaf it's very annoying! Is there any known ways to reduce this feeling?

[debs71]

I find what helps me a lot is distaction, when it comes to the queue thing in particular. If I am in a store, I focus on things around me, like counting stuff on shelves for example....anything that detracts from the nerves and calms me down.

If also helps if you can detach you thoughts from the building anxiety you feel, by any other method - singing a song in you head, mental affirmations like 'I am fine'....it's just anxiety', etc.

It sounds daft, but breathing helps greatly too. Slow, methodical, breaths in and then a slow breath out. That helps calm the body AND the mind.

Anxiety is all about a trick of the mind. It is perpetuated by our own brain, and the KEY THING to remember is that just as your brain can create high anxiety, you also have the power to calm it down, it is just about fnding something that works for you, hun. x