Like many mental illnesses, social anxiety disorder is difficult to explain and often misunderstood. When I share my own struggle with social anxiety, I often sum it up as “I hate people.” Unfortunately, this tends to propagate the misconception that having social anxiety makes you hate people. This is simply not true. I have my own reasons for disliking people, and social anxiety is only one of those reasons. But that’s a topic for another article. This particular article, or “listicle,” is about five simple tasks that are more difficult for people with social anxiety (in case you didn’t read the headline).
1. Enduring small talk.
Let me just state for the record that I absolutely abhor small talk. I understand that it’s common courtesy, but it’s usually shallow and disingenuous. It has gotten to the point that whenever someone asks me how I’m doing, I’ll respond with some variation of “I’m alright.” I’ll respond with this even if one of my closest friends is asking, and even when I’m anything but “alright.”
2. Ordering at a restaurant/drive-thru.
When I order food at a restaurant, I often worry that I’ll mess up my order or respond “Thanks, you too” when the server says “Enjoy your meal.” And when I decide to get food at a drive-thru, I’ll recite my order while driving there. I remember once wanting to strangle my roommate, because he took five minutes to casually peruse the menu at the drive-thru, as the line of cars behind us only grew.
3. Answering questions in class.
Out of all the simple tasks on this list, I personally find this one to be the easiest, even with social anxiety. But I’m kind of a nerd, so I like to ask questions in order to learn more about whatever subject I’m studying.
4. Arguing in public.
I believe that debate is crucial to improving yourself and your beliefs. But when I go to Walmart, and see a couple get into a shouting match over what kind of Pop-Tarts they should buy, I feel embarrassed for both of them.
5. Talking on the phone.
OK, so maybe this is more difficult for Millennials as a whole. Whenever I get a phone call, there’s a 98.2% chance that I won’t answer it. If it happens to be an unknown number, I figure that they’ll leave a voicemail if it’s important enough. I’m obviously more likely to answer a phone call from someone I know, but I often feel that whatever they need to say can be better communicated over text.
I realize that this seems like a total dick move, but I don’t ignore phone calls out of malice. I just happen to be incredibly self-conscious about my voice, as I often stumble over my words, mumble incoherently, or completely fail to express whatever I’m thinking or feeling. Why do you think I’m a writing major?
