How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety

by Ellen Hendriksen

Everyone will hate me turns into My boss will hate this particular presentation.

Everyone will think I’m a freak turns into The five or six people I talk to at the party might notice my hands shaking and think something is wrong with me. People will think I’m ugly turns into Mackenzie and Carmen will be judgmental of my outfit and hair again. I’ll screw this up turns into The customer service guy won’t understand what I need and we’ll get into a long, awkward misunderstanding. Something bad will happen turns into I’m worried I won’t know where to stand or how to position my body during the meet-and-greet.

THE MAGIC QUESTIONS Next up, a set of magic questions. The defense attorney looks squarely at the Inner Critic and lets loose the first: “How bad would that really be?”