Walking down roads on my own or to the shops etc. always caused me social anxiety. This was amplified when my Mum passed away 2 years ago and I chose to walk her Dog everyday, forcing me to somehow create systems to tolerate what used to be an infrequent venture out into built up areas.
I would like to hear others coping strategies and here’s mine:
Listen to Paul McKennas hypnosis tracks: Instant Confidence and Supreme Self Confidence at low volume whilst walking, knowing my unconscious takes it all in.
Use 400mg of L-Theanine powder under my tongue (more a placebo as its known not to help those already anxious) before I leave.
Use 2 mantra style thoughts to help me: 1) Anyone walking/driving past will have forgotten me in 30 seconds- to confirm this I try and remember clearly any person I saw on the street the day before. 2) I am the main character of the Movie called my Life and everyone else is an extra, which means I’m just a Movie extra in all of theirs.
When in Nature whereby greetings are customary and yet my polite hellos have been ignored so many times, I made the rule never to say Hi to couples or groups, instead looking at the floor and only say Hi to individuals after they say Hi to me.
Contrary to psychological pigeon holing that looking down indicates nervousness and insecurity, I can genuinely say that deep thought and almost Meditative trance can only be attained by looking down whilst walking. Remembering that no members of the public will remember anyway.
This system has helped and yet I still have to employ it everyday, luckily its almost automatic now.
I have found listening to music when I walk helps. However you cant hear street sounds that help you avoid danger. In a small style setting is where I walked.
I had paranoia for a long time walking around in public. A lot of it has gone away but i still have some and probably always will.
What helped me for me was i brought my mom along pretty much EVERY WHERE i wanted to go. She got tired of me asking her to go. LOL but her presence really comforted me. Finally she kind of refused to go along anymore and i just forced myself to do small things like go grocery shopping or take swimming lessons alone.
I kind of just do it, i just don’t think about it and dive in and then it’s over quickly.
One time there was an accident actually, talk about anxiety on a walk. I moved to the middle of the street because the traffic was so heavy, you could just not get across otherwise at this place, there was no light and people did not stop to allow you to get across. So you would wait for the closest side to be clear and go to the middle and then wait for that side to be clear.
So i went to the median and waited, all of a sudden a guy decides to actually follow the rules and he stops very quickly, and then the person behind him stops, and the person behind them stops. But wait a sec, a semi truck was behind that person!
The semi tried to stop but freakin plowed into the person in front of him and then they hit the person in front of them. A van was thrust right in front of me and was actually heading straight toward me but it didn’t go all of the way.
It was just the way it was set up, i was not held repsonsible because i followed all of the rules, there was just no light. Now im always more worried about getting killed than the social aspect of going out. Just yesterday i thought as i left the house, “what if a guy walks up and kills me with a crow bar?”