3 ms·

I'm really curious where social anxiety comes from. I get it though not crippling most of the time. But for example public speaking I can logically see that I p

I'm really curious where social anxiety comes from. I get it though not crippling most of the time. But for example public speaking I can logically see that I publicly speak any time I'm at dinner with friends or voice my thoughts in a meeting so it's strange to me that officially speaking would have so different a feeling but it does.

andrewingram 8y ago
For me it's the anticipation of putting myself on the line. I can speak up in meetings where I know i'm an authority, but struggle to do so when I don't have that role. Social situations with people I don't know well will nearly always have me looking for ways to avoid it, even though I've been told repeatedly that I'm very personable. I've done group salsa performances in front of hundreds (possibly thousands) of people, but I need to get very drunk to do regular club (not salsa) dancing. My best guess as to the origin is the environment at home when growing up. Without going into too much detail, it was very stressful and I felt like I didn't have a voice.