# OMG! I'm going to start crying (out of happiness)!!!!!!!!!!!!!



## Freedom2010 (Jan 29, 2009)

Yeah. Lots of exclanation points for this one!

I feel like I am making huge progress in overcoming my shyness. I completley changed the beliefs about myself and the world that were making me so shy to begin with. I am now able to do so many things that I was never able to do before.

I am on a swim team. I used to rarely ever talk to those people but now I talk to them all the time during practice and actually look forward to talking to them. When I was on spring break in Florida, I called up an old friend from elementry school that I never get to see anymore because I live in Ohio. I also joined the Key Club at my school and have been volunterring for many things and meeting many new people. Last night, I was even able to sit down at a table of people I didn't know and start talking to them.

I still wouldn't consider myself outgoing, and I still need to get closer to some of the people I am talking to and make some friends, but I feel like I have come such a long way. SA may have taken away from a lot of the experiences in my life, but it feels SO good to finally be able to overcome my fears. I get such a huge adrineline rush! The good thing about having SA is that you don't need to go skydiving or hang gliding to get an adriniline rush- you just have to talk to people.

I know this message is very long, and I would be very suprised if people are still reading this, but I think the best thing happend this morning!

I was really curious to see how much I progressed. I remember thaking this test a couple of months ago:
http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/disorder/liebowitz/
and scoring a 77- marked social anxiety.

Now I scored a 47 with the most beautiful words I have ever heard:
*You do not suffer from social anxiety.*

I just want to say good luck to everyone that is trying to overcome this. I used to think the situation was hopeless for me, but with a little hard work, I was able to change. If I can do it, everyone else on here definitely can!

One last thing:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:boogie:boogie


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## laura024 (Aug 11, 2006)

That's great  Look at how much you can accomplish when you believe in yourself.


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## Rushes (Mar 31, 2009)

Thats amazing. I took the test and scored an 81. It say's I have severe social phobia, but I don't feel that way. I think mild social phobia would be more accurate. In the past few months I have taken a lot of steps to overcome my anxiety and evidently am not in the same position I used to be in. 

I am so pleased that you have overcome this condition. Being able to relax within a group of people is a good feeling.


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## leomouse (Dec 1, 2008)

yaaaaaaaay! i think we can overcome it but we really need to push ourselves out of the comfort zone and eventually we can improve!


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## Madison_Rose (Feb 27, 2009)

Hooray! You're an inspiration  Details on how you managed this would be much appreciated^^


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## Zeddicus (Apr 1, 2009)

Yes, show us your tricks!


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## Sukipei (Jun 15, 2008)

Congratulations, you're doing it very well... but let us know what is the therapy that you are using . CBT maybe?


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## Smile_Karina (Nov 15, 2008)

Congrats! :boogie

Where you taking any medication or going to therapy? Or would you say you improved by just pushing yourself out of your comfort zone by surrounding yourself with people?


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## Freedom2010 (Jan 29, 2009)

Thanks so much for all the encouragement so far. I know you all can overcome it too!

What helped me the most were all the books by David Burns. Doing the exercises in those books, and reading the things he said really helped me change all my beliefs about myself and the world. I know it sounds dramatic, but they are the only self help books I have read that actually worked for me. Here is a good link to them:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...&field-keywords=david+burns&sprefix=david+bur

What also has been helping me is putting myself in situations I would normally avoid. If I see someone I want to talk to, I just talk to them. I don't try to avoid them. I also just recently joined the Key Club. Joining clubs, organizations, or anything that gives you a chance to interact with people is a really good thing for overcoming SA!

Another weird thing is happening to me as well. Because of the confidence I gained from doing the exercises in those books, I felt less anxious talking to people and was able to talk to them more and have good conversations. Because of these sucesses, I feel myself growing more confident which makes my future social interactions even better


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## Smile_Karina (Nov 15, 2008)

Checking out the book right now!


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## Freedom2010 (Jan 29, 2009)

Smile_Karina said:


> Congrats! :boogie
> 
> Where you taking any medication or going to therapy? Or would you say you improved by just pushing yourself out of your comfort zone by surrounding yourself with people?


Therapy and medication did not work for me. I improved just by pushing myself out of my confort zone (and by changing all my negative beliefs about myself and the world).

Therapy may work for some people. I have tried therapy though and it did not work for me. It just made me feel even more different, and like I had serious problems. All the therapists I went to (and I went to many!) were pretty bad. I know a good therapist can make all the difference, but for me, therapy did not work.

I also would not even think about trying medication. I know it has helped some people, but for me, medication is sort of what caused my SA. I used to take Zoloft for other problems I was having and it made me behave really impulsively. I would say and do anything just to be the center of attention. This behavior really embarassed me, and was part of what caused me to be so inhibited later in my life.

I'm not discouraging anyone from trying medication or therapy- whatever works for you. I'm just saying from personal experience, it did not work for me.


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## Zeddicus (Apr 1, 2009)

_Mind over mood_. I like the sound of that.


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## Smile_Karina (Nov 15, 2008)

I just looked over the link you gave.
There's many books by him, but which ones would you recommend that you've read?


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## AndyLT (Oct 8, 2007)

Freedom2010 said:


> The good thing about having SA is that you don't need to go skydiving or hang gliding to get an adriniline rush- you just have to talk to people.


That's true.


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## Freedom2010 (Jan 29, 2009)

Smile_Karina said:


> I just looked over the link you gave.
> There's many books by him, but which ones would you recommend that you've read?


I would recommend all of them. I read pretty much every single book by him. My top two though to recommend would be "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" and "Intimate Connerctions". "Feeling Good" is the most comprehensive book, and "Intimate Connections" has a huge amount of information related to overcoming shyness and developing meaningful relationships with others.

I hope these books help you guys as much as they have helped me!


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