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

by Ellen Hendriksen

To sum up, when your Inner Critic kicks the anxiety into gear, first ask, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Answer as precisely as possible; remember: specify, specify, specify. Then ask: “How bad would that really be?” “What are the odds?” “How could I cope?”

So while you’re in the tough early stages, base your achievement on what you do rather than how you feel. You were anxious and you said hi. You were sweating bullets and you asked for a raise. You didn’t have the perfect answer ready and you raised your hand. You felt like throwing up and you asked her out. Your anxiety isn’t credible, so don’t ask it for feedback. Instead, look at what you did. Let your accomplishments be the measure of your success. Your confidence is there. See? Here it comes. It’s sprinting to catch up.

My life has been filled with terrible misfortune, most of which never happened. —MONTAIGNE

Any way you slice it, capital-S Social Anxiety Disorder more than quadruples the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder.

It is a luxury to be understood. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON