Social Anxiety Update ! (Post Therapy)

Hey beauts ! I have not written to you guys in a bit now describing and sharing my social anxiety progress with you’s. If you are new to my channel I have been struggling with social anxiety for a long period of time now . Recently I was involved with a social anxiety group therapy program teaching us different cognitive behavioural techniques and skills to help cope . I also had an exposure hierarchy that I was working on , where I would expose myself to my biggest fears which provoke my anxiety and trigger it . 

So it has now been approximately two months passed since I have finished my group therapy sessions and I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of an update as to how I  am doing and coping lately . A lot has been going on lately , especially this month. To my surprise I actually have been working quite a bit on my exposure hierarchy without even knowing . Not going to lie, I haven’t been quite on the ball like before planning out exposures and what is going to happen each day or what I am going to work on. Life gets in the way and that is okay. But writing this post and sharing more progress I have come to the conclusion that I have made some huge progress over the past couple of weeks. 

1) Job Interviews– On my exposure hierarchy list, I had written down that I want to remain more calm and comfortable when it comes to job interviews. Recently I had an interview , a Skype interview, which was completely new to me , on a volunteer blogging position. Of course I was psyching myself out and was debating whether just to cancel this interview or not go online. I was impressed with myself as I pushed through my nerves , and managed to attend the online interview which was 30 minutes long. The interview involved two people listening and watching me speak as they asked questions in regards to my blogging and my blogging channel. It was very easy but still nerve racking for me. So that was that ! I ended up getting the position which I was super stoked about. If some of you are curious it’s for the blogging company ” INKspire“, which I am going to start soon! If I would have let my social anxiety get the best of me , I would not have had the opportunity to get this position. I am happy I stuck to my guns! 

I also have some interviews coming up for part time jobs as I am heading back to school. This will be nerve racking for me for many reasons. Within my job now I hardly have to speak to any people aside from the mom, dad and grandparents. Now getting a “normal“job , I will have to push out of my comfort zone and associate with more people one on one. Fingers crossed everything goes okay ! I got this ! My coping statement that I often use through hard times like this is ,” you are good at interviews, you got this “. 

2) Going back to school– So as some of you may know I decided to go back to school! I applied to Mohawk college for social service work , so fingers crossed I get in! I have been wanting to do this program for a while now , so I am super excited I got the guts to jump on it! This process has not been easy. I had to inform my boss that I needed to leave and put in my two weeks as I will be going back to school. Quitting a job is never easy, especially the confrontational part about it. I would rather just send a text but we all know that’s not professional whatsoever….. sigh. But I managed to do it, and phew I am still here today , can’t win this time anxiety! I also managed to fill out my whole application without mammas help (that’s pretty big considering I hate doing school work forms). I will be attending my program hopefully next week ! I know my nerves will kick in as I will have to speak infront of people , but I know that I can do this. Just like that two minute presentation I did in group therapy. I did that , I can do this .

3) Speaking on the phone – Recently since applying to school, I have been on the phone with people trying to sort out my application. What shocked me the most was most times I did not hesitate to pick up the phone, I just went right away and did what I needed to do. I have found that speaking on the phone is not as bad as I thought , and I can do it more naturally now. Not to say the anxiety is completely gone, but I can cope and manage it better than before. 

As you can see I have been slowly working on my exposure hierarchy without really even noticing it . I think the biggest challenge for me will be school, since I was so used to have classes with friends at Brock University, that now I have to start fresh and brand new.  This will be hard for me but I am excited because I was informed there was a program you can register at Mohawk called the “Accessible learning centre”, where they accommodate your needs if you have learning disabilities or mental health issues going on. They can extend your assignments, move you to a separate room to write your exams and so forth. This honestly eases my anxiety a ton and makes me feel way more comfortable with my decision to go to Mohawk. All I have to do is just register for this program.  So that was the update that I had for you guys ! Let me know if any of you guys had tried out an anxiety group therapy program or not , I am curious how it worked or is going for you! If you have any questions in regards to this don’t hesitate to ask! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week, be sure to follow my other social media accounts located on my home page for the latest updates!