Start here.
By the end of this instruction manual, you’re going to have a new solution to reliably control your anxiety in social interactions.
Now I know that’s a big promise, so let me introduce myself.
My name’s Parker, and I battled with my social anxiety all my life up until a couple of years ago.
I started sharing my experiences on my podcast, “Social Anxiety Remedy.”
Over the past 5 years, it’s become the biggest social anxiety podcast in the world. Because of that, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to thousands of people just like you.
When I was dealing with my anxiety, I had no idea where to start. There were only 2 options that I knew of…
Therapy and Medication.
Here’s a funny meme I couldn’t resist putting in:
Jokes aside, when I finally got the courage to seek therapy, it didn’t feel right. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to talk to somebody about it… But my therapist never had social anxiety.
They couldn’t relate to what I was going through.
We talked about how I could cope with it, but I always returned the next week with the same problems.
After talking to my podcast listeners, I learned that this wasn’t just happening with me… it was a universal experience.
There’s just not enough good therapists out there that hyper-focus on social anxiety specifically.
There was no step by step guide on how to tackle this.
Medication.
Personally, I’ve always had really bad back problems and I’ve been on and off pain killers because of it.
I felt okay when I was on the pain killers, but I knew that there was still a problem lurking under the surface.
Until I got off of them, I couldn’t tell if my back was actually doing better or if I was just covering up the pain.
I like to use this as a metaphor for anxiety medication.
It’s almost like spraying air freshener over dirty laundry. The clothes might not smell as bad, but you know that the smell’s still there.
The thing is… I didn’t just want to cope with my anxiety, I wanted to overcome it.
Here’s a journal entry that I wrote a few years ago:
If you can’t read it, it says:
"It's so annoying that I can't just be myself around others. Social anxiety is such a hassle. It’s holding me back from making real connections. I just want to be able to be real and not have to worry about what others think all the time. I’m sick of not being able to talk to new people, it’s making me miss out on so much shit. I’ve just realized recently how much it’s holding me back and I need to figure out what to do."
If that sounds like you, then you’re in the right place.
So enough fluff, it’s time to create a new version of yourself. It’s time to conquer the fear holding you back from reaching your potential.
Why you experience social anxiety.
Before I can explain what the Remedy to social anxiety is, you need to know why you’re experiencing it.
The sentence you’re about to read is the key to everything:
“Human beings will always act and feel and perform in accordance with what they believe to be true about themselves and their environment.”
A person's actions, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by their beliefs about themselves and the world around them.
For example, let's say there is someone who really loves dogs and believes that all dogs are friendly and love to play. This person gets happy when they see a dog. They are more likely to approach dogs and try to interact with them, because they have a positive belief about dogs.
On the other hand, if someone else has a negative belief about dogs and thinks that they are scary or might bite, they tense up around dogs. They are less likely to want to go near dogs or interact with them.
So in both cases, the person's actions and feelings are being influenced by their beliefs about dogs.
You can probably see where I’m going with this.
If you truly believed that:
The world is a friendly place
You have immense value
People find you interesting and want to be around you
You’re calm, confident, and playful…
Then it would be really damn hard to experience any kind of social anxiety!
So how do you actually take on these beliefs as your own?