I hope i recover my social skills

Lounge
1

It seems like 12 years of isolating yourself from people would make you lose your social skills. :expressionless:

6 Likes
2

Do you have any family members you can practice socializing with?

1 Like
3

I have my parents and my sister. They’re the only people i see except for my psych “team”.

Its not the same. My anxiety around non family is insane.

so to answer, yes, but i don’t think it helps

1 Like
4

Yeah. I also have social anxiety, so I have to limit my time socializing. It costs me a lot of energy.

I think a bit of exposure can help. Maybe chat a bit at the bakery, post office or wherever you drop by.

1 Like
5

You’re right. i talked to a library employee girl for a bit because we were both from Sf bay area. But then nothing has come of it in terms of a friendship or more

1 Like
6

I"m afraid of failure so i dont try

2 Likes
7

I would just be friendly. People appreciate that.

You can talk even about the weather.

1 Like
8

they will hyper analyze me. thats how i feel tbh

2 Likes
9

My experience is that in corporate life people overanalyze everything and are highly critical. It’s not pleasant being looked at like that.

In my town people have kinder eyes. Not everyone is highly critical. Some people just want to make connections.

Try to find the right places.

1 Like
10

Thats about the same as me. Going on year 13 i think. Ive lost em all. I think people (like dentists) are even starting to treat me different. They dont treat me like im 36. They treat me like im 12 or something so im starting to wonder how much ive changed from isolation.

11

IDK. I also have social anxiety, but sometimes we must communicate, to lessen that social anxiety. The more I start get to know the person, the more comfortable I feel…
I know, social anxiety sucks. But the only way to fight it is actually trying to communicate more

12

Social anxiety is rough.

I have been isolating so much— almost scared of people outside my family at times and going completely out of my way to avoid interactions with neighbors and seemingly average people.

I just feel I’ve lost so much in terms of social skills that I can’t keep up in conversations and come off weird.

Any semblance of confidence I had has since gone to shiit.

Hoping I can get some of that confidence back by doing other stuff— it’s an uphill battle, but no man is an island as they say, and I feel like social skills are like a muscle: if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Hope you start to be able to branch out a bit more and feel alright doing so :+1:

2 Likes
13

I can relate to this alongside the hyperanalysis.

I’m told instead of fearing failure, just live in the present. But I don’t know how…

14

When i started working at an office i was pretty nervous about making small talk, and also making phone calls when its quiet. Id use propranolol before phone calls lol. It worked. I still get slightly nervous but nothing as before.

Exposure therapy is basicslly the game. The more you do it the easier it gets

1 Like
15

I had to learn mine back through practice and paying for instruction (Paul Ekman’s training).

1 Like
16

A while ago there was a book that @everhopeful got to polish up conversation skills. I remember that he said it helped him socialise better.

Why not ask him? :slight_smile:

2 Likes
17

I think it was called “conversationally speaking”. It was an audiobook.

There’s plenty of audiobooks and books on conversation, you should check them out @Nomad

1 Like
18

This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.