You have an important presentation slowly creeping up on you every time you look at your calendar and every time you look at it your anxiety gets a little bit higher. Thinking about what you should wear, how you should carry yourself and what you’re going to say creates more nerves than you could have ever anticipated. A few days later you’re getting ready to give your presentation in front of your entire class, your nerves are at an all-time high and you feel a little shaky. You finally stand up in front of the class to give your presentation, you fly through it and when you’re done the anxiety quickly disappears and there is a huge weight that is lifted off of your shoulders.

These nerves and anxiety are normal for anyone who is not quite confident enough to stand up in front of a crowd, but every time you seem to get through it. Well, think about that anxious feeling that you felt before your presentation and imagine carrying that feeling with you throughout your entire day, week, month or your entire life. An individual that struggles with social anxiety feels this burden almost every day.

Social anxiety is when your brain fills itself with worries about possible social encounters that are not relevant or you think of different scenarios with friends or classmates that should have gone differently and ways that you plan to go about a situation in the future. Your brain starts to take control of your entire body, you freezes up, begin to stumble over your words, sweat and your heart beats a mile a minute.

If you are an individual, like myself, who struggles with social anxiety it’s hard not to think that something is wrong with you. But, it’s not your fault what so ever. You have to deal with that little voice in your head that is constantly bickering at you telling you that you’re doing something wrong or making yourself look like an idiot in front of others when you’re really not.

To be honest, it’s hard to distinguish between someone who has social anxiety and someone who doesn’t because an individual with social anxiety can come across as bubbly, outgoing and funny. But in their head there are a million things that are telling them they are doing something wrong.

If you are like me, every day can be a battle to even get out of bed but I push through it and try to conquer this monster in my brain. It’s important to constantly remind yourself how amazing and blessed you are in your life and that you’re just as good as everyone else in this world. My tip to you is to just take a deep breath every morning, close your eyes and think about everything positive in your life, sooner than later this helps calm the anxiety that used to take over your emotions and thoughts.