Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their life. Doctor’s visit? Anxiety. Job Interview? Anxiety. First date? Anxiety. It’s totally natural to be anxious about anything that could affect your life. That’s a no-brainer. But what about the little things that shouldn’t even matter? Like being afraid to talk to the cashier at the gas station when you’re paying for your candy bar or not being able to answer a question in class because you think the teacher or your classmates will laugh at you? Or maybe it’s tripping over your words to the barista on your Starbucks order because you’re scared you’re going to say it wrong (what a paradox). Social anxiety is the term you’re looking for, and it manifests differently for everyone. This type of anxiety is (hella) irrational, and most of these scenarios sound ridiculous outside of my head.

People with anxiety may be mistaken as being shy, but there’s a huge difference between just being shy and having social anxiety. I don’t think of myself as a shy person. A shy person is consistent with their shyness; it’s more of a personality trait. A socially anxious person can be loud and outgoing, but they have an irrational fear in some social situations. Most of the time it happens when they don’t know the people around them. People with social anxiety want to talk to new people, they just can’t or have a harder time of it than others.

Anxiety makes you second guess yourself, sometimes to the point of missing out on great opportunities because your fear is overpowering your thought process. When I first received the text asking me if I wanted to write for the Odyssey, my initial response was, "Heck yes!" My second thought was not as excited. I kept thinking, “What if someone I know sees this and thinks I’m dumb?” Then, “What if I am dumb?” I’m grateful that I responded right then, before I could think about it and let my anxiety get in the way. I feel as if social anxiety stems from our need to be well liked, and I personally don’t know anyone that doesn’t want to be liked. But why does anxiety blow the situation out of proportion? In reality, it shouldn’t matter if the lady taking orders at the drive thru likes me or not, but sometimes I still make my mom order because I’m scared to.

Everyone has probably experienced social anxiety, but some are better at controlling hiding it than others. If you have never experienced it, lucky you (#jealous). It doesn’t make you less of a person because you have trouble talking to new people or you can’t force your body to do simple tasks like getting up during class to go to the bathroom because you’re scared the professor will get mad. I have no idea how my brain cannot rationalize that these things are okay to do and I won’t die from doing them.

Thankfully, some of these worries do eventually go away, like being afraid to pay the cashier at the gas station for the candy bar or ordering in the drive-thru. I eventually learned to kick my anxiety out of the way when food is involved (don’t get between a girl and her food). Maybe the rest of these nonsensical fears will also go away as I get older, but one can only hope.