To the people with social anxiety,
Have you ever felt an overwhelming sense of stress, when your friends talk about going out? Do you feel anxious just thinking about having to be social with people in general? Yeah, me too. If you're like me, thinking about going out and having to socialize, gives you a crippling sense of anxiety that you can't shake off. It's not like we want to be this way, we didn't ask to be anxious in social situations. Nonetheless, I'm here to tell you that it's OK to be like this and that you don't have to justify or prove your social anxiety to anyone.
For people who don't know, according to the Social Anxiety Institute, social anxiety is the fear of social situations that involve interaction with other people. You could say social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being negatively judged and evaluated by other people. In the United States, epidemiological studies have recently pegged social anxiety disorder as the third largest psychological disorder in the country, after depression and alcoholism. It is estimated that about 7% of the population suffers from some form of social anxiety at the present time.
This psychological phenomenon, although recognized as an official illness, is often stigmatized by society. They think that having social anxiety isn't real; it's just that we're shy. People believe that if we were to "go out more", it'll just disappear. We were encouraged to "try harder" and if we did, "we wouldn't feel like this". What they don't get is that we do try our hardest, we try to overcome our fear, but it doesn't go away that easily. Society wants to suppress anything that isn't known about. In other words, society wants you to be "normal", or simply be like them. This is due to the lack of education regarding mental health. People think that just because you're okay physically, you're okay mentally as well but, it's not always like this. Your mental health takes a huge toll in all the aspects of your life. If you're not mentally healthy, your physical health can plummet as well. The two, truly are interconnected. People, who don't realize this, tend to make the wrong assumptions, and consequently judge us.
Nonetheless, it shouldn't be this way. We shouldn't have to face the judgement of other people, who aren't aware that this condition exists. We, as a community, should help end the stigma surrounding social anxiety. We can do so, by becoming educated ourselves, and sharing our knowledge and feelings with our friends and family so they can understand where we're coming from. Remember that, "Understanding is much deeper than knowledge. There are many people who know us, but very few who understand us".
