For this section, I will discuss a weakness from the previous blog, and ways in which I can work towards overcoming it. The selected weakness is:
I tend to shy away from leadership and teaching roles due to social anxiety.
My first step is to point out (to the reader as well as myself) that I am not the only person with this difficulty. This is an important first step, because social anxiety often leads to feelings of isolation. But in reality, social anxiety is quite common, and there is a plethora of helpful material available. The three sources at the bottom are good examples, and there are thousands of these with varying degrees of click-bait-yness on the internet, but they all have recurring points which are valid. Using just the three, I have compiled the below list of my favorite points, which I will keep in mind moving forward:
- The first step, a large theme in the first two articles (Aarons-Mele, 2021 and Being a Leader with Social Anxiety – How to Overcome Your Fear – Youth With A Future, n.d.), is identifying and accepting the anxiety. And this translates to all kinds of other issues. For example: The first step of buying a new guitar, is identifying and accepting that you don’t own enough guitars. It is crucial to accept reality if you wish to improve it. If one does not accept their anxiety, the only option is to push through it, which I have a tendency to do, and is exactly what I’m trying to change. So I will make a conscious effort to identify when it is present, and accept that it is present, before moving on to coping mechanisms.
- Mindfulness. One hears this term thrown at all kinds of issues these days, and for good reason. Practicing mindfulness, or grounding oneself, is the practice of pulling oneself back to the present by pausing, and making mental note of physical surroundings (Eulberg, 2021). For example, what do you see around you right now? What do you hear? Smell? Note them to yourself. This is a useful tool for coming back from panic attacks, or milder worries. It shifts one’s focus from all the chattering thoughts racing around in one’s mind back to the physical realm, and in doing so offers occasional relief.
- Being a Leader with Social Anxiety – How to Overcome Your Fear – Youth With A Future, n.d., stated “know the difference between thoughts and truths”, which I believe is a logical next step from mindfulness. Identify an anxious thought-spiral if you are having one, identify that it is different from what you just focused on in the physical realm via mindfulness. And once one has identified these worries:
- Talk to someone about it. Specifically a colleague, or a friend with similar work. The goal doesn’t have to be getting advice; just talking about it helps. And sharing experiences makes it easier to identify when they are happening in the future.
These steps, in addition to regular therapy, are a helpful tool for overcome these anxieties, which in my case is an important step towards stopping myself from limiting my own career opportunities, by avoiding opportunities which involve teaching or leading.
Reference List:
Youth With A Future. n.d. ‘Being a Leader with Social Anxiety – How to Overcome Your Fear – Youth With A Future’. [online] Available at: <https://ywfleaders.com/being-a-leader-with-social-anxiety-how-to-overcome-your-fear/> [Accessed 7 October 2021].
Aarons-Mele, M., 2021. ‘Leading Through Anxiety’. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: <https://hbr.org/2020/05/leading-through-anxiety> [Accessed 7 October 2021].
Eulberg, J., 2021. ‘6 Strategies to Relieve Teacher Anxiety’. [online] Hey Teach!. Available at: <https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/6-strategies-relieve-teacher-anxiety1809.html> [Accessed 7 October 2021].
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