If you are uncomfortable in social situations you may be suffering from social fear or anxiety. Most people will suffer from some sort of anxiety during their lives. If you are anything like I was you suffer from it nearly every single day no matter who you are with.

There are many different levels of anxiety, some people may be fine when they are walking down the street however put that same person in a middle of a bar and all of a sudden they are an anxious wreck.  When doing my research on overcoming anxiety the main point that helped me start seeing the truth about anxiety is that its not something you are born with meaning its not genetic so it some think that can be overcome.

Anxiety generally hits people when they think they may do something humiliating in front of others. They believe that others are judging them in a negative way because of something they said or did or are about to say or do. Seeing life this way is not only a frightening way to live life, it also can hold you back in areas of life you would normally exceed in. It can lead to loneliness, isolation and the feeling that no one will ever understand you. 

The first stage in overcoming anxiety is admitting to yourself that something is wrong rather than pushing it to the back of your mind. When I got to this stage I searched everywhere online to find how to overcome anxiety. That’s when I came across some information that really changed my life and this is what I would like to share that with you today.

Anxiety is caused when the body’s fight or flight response is activated,  this response is due to you experiencing fear on a base level.  For example - When I used to walk into a party and not see anyone I knew I used to think oh my god what I am going to do - Which roughly translates to I fear being around people I do not know.

Think back to a situation where you have felt anxious and I bet you can relate this to the feeling and thought pattern experienced by fear.

So why do we experience this fear?

It all started at the beginning of our race, back then the world was a very different place to what it is now.  Mr and Mrs Caveman lives were very different,  they had to face potential death on a daily basis. They would have to avoid killer animals, defend against nature, hunt for food on a daily basis and survive all sorts of deadly endings to their lives.

This is when the body created the fight or flight response I mention earlier. The body created adrenalin, it occurs when the brain senses danger and used to give the caveman extra strength to either fight the danger or run as fast as they can in flight.

So how does this relate to us nowadays?  Well what happens on a regularly basis are little experiences that make us anxious, like when I used to walk into a party and not see anyone I knew. This triggers a slow release adrenalin which has a similar affect as the fight and flight adrenalin but not as severe.

Slow release adrenalin is what happens when we feel anxious but we mistake this bodily response for a feeling of anxiety or fear.  Unlike our ancestors, who used the adrenalin for fight or flight, in today’s society this response is no longer needed, as lets face it when was the last time you had to run away from a saber tooth tiger.  As the adrenalin is not used by the body it builds up inside of us like a pressure cooker, becoming a shadow over our life in the form of anxiety or fear.  You then become afraid of the feeling of fear itself. This I have found to be the route of my anxiety and that of many others.

By misinterpreting my natural bodily response as fear I was sensing I was in danger when in reality I wasn’t. I was mistaking the feeling of the slow adrenaline build up as genuine fear when all it was my body response.

Now obviously this explanation is how I experienced and understood fear but I am sure you understand fear a little more now and whilst society has developed we all still have basic responses to social situations that come from caveman times.

Now that you understand fear and how it relates to anxiety, you will be able to start to overcome anxiety. If you would like some more pointers on overcoming anxiety why don’t you take a look at my free video seminar.