Hi everyone, I’ve failed day one about 100x over the last 22 years (started doing drugs and drinking heavily at age 13) I’ve lived a very cool and very successful life and from the outside most people can’t tell I have this struggle. I’m on day 2 of no alcohol and day 62 of no substances. I’m proud of myself bc for the two years leading up to it was cocaine or ketamine everyday. One of the hardest things I go through daily is social anxiety. I have adhd, a lot of childhood trauma/abuse and my brain just feels like it’s wired differently. Getting a little buzz seems to turn the volume down on all the noise in my head. And especially when it comes to social settings where I’m often on the verge of a panic attack from being overstimulated (when I’m sober). I find it easiest to be sober when I’m out and away from society but I don’t want to live isolated. I don’t know if this makes sense but I guess I’m looking for tips on social anxiety and how to cope with it in healthier ways, if anyone has any thoughts to share. Thanks!
Welcome. It’s normal to have extra social anxiety in the beginning especially so do your best to this yourself some grace while you work on stuff. Have you done any therapy or IOP’s? I would highly suggest that if not. A good program of recovery for daily living in general too. AA has been my rock with that and therapy all for the rest of the mental health help. If you get overwhelmed quickly it can help to duck into a bathroom for just a couple minutes to get away and also to use the T of a dialectical behavior therapy skill called TIPP. The T stands for temperature change and cold water on the wrist area for like a minute eases anxiety pretty well and pretty quickly. Changes a biological response in you. Having a little phrase like “this feeling will pass” and repeating it over and over helps a lot too. You can do this. Hope this helps
Thank you Mike! You gave me some useful tools and ideas to think about. I’m still going strong!
I would also add Box Breathing @Nad. I use this technique often to calm me in high stress moments:
Breathe in slowly to a count of 4.
Hold the breath for a count of 4.
Exhale slowly to a count of 4.
Hold the exhale for a count of 4.
Repeat for 3-5 minutes. 