How to Overcome Anxiety in 3 Steps

The pandemic did a number on me as I'm sure it did everyone. During that time a lot of people dealt with depression, eating disorders, and anxiety. Especially anxiety. It’s story time.

One day, when the world was attempting to go back to normal, stores were starting to open up again, people were going out, I had ordered a pizza from the pizza place near me. So my mom and I walked down the block to go pick it up. When we walked in, there were a lot of people standing around waiting for their orders. 

Now mind you, before the pandemic started there was usually a place towards the back of the store where you could pick up your pizza if you ordered online. Now as an introvert that was great! You know, I could walk in, grab my pizza and get out. Didn’t have to talk to anybody. Just go about my business. Because of covid they stopped that and you now had to go up and ask for your order. Great. 

Because there were so many people just standing there I kind of felt uncomfortable going up to the workers and asking for my food. So what did I do, I froze. Completely. It took me a good minute to finally go up and ask for my food. Let’s just say it was kind of embarrassing to say the least.

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience and are wondering how you can cope with and overcome anxiety as I did. Well, let’s get straight into the tips.

Tip #1: Preparation

A lot of the time when you’re feeling anxious about socializing or entering social situations, it’s because you’re not sure what you’re going to say. You’re afraid you’re going to blank, you’re afraid you’re going to freeze and that’s normal. It’s okay, it happens. But, something I like to do that has definitely helped me with this is to prepare what I’m going to say beforehand or just have some sort of idea of how I’m going to word it. That has definitely helped me because it takes out a lot of the guesswork and a lot of the uncertainty. So if you’re feeling nervous going into a social situation where you have to talk to someone, ask someone a question, take a second to just prepare yourself and you’ll be fine.

Tip#2: Take a Moment to Collect Yourself.

We live in a society that tells us we always have to be going, that we can’t waste any time. But, as true as it is that time is valuable, it’s okay to take a step back to collect yourself and take a deep breath. I realized when I was in social situations where I was really nervous, that taking a second to collect myself and take a deep breath can mean the world. It can really help! So don’t be afraid to ask for one second to gather your thoughts. It’s natural. The best people do it. Give it a try.

Tip #3: Build Your Confidence.

I made another video on how exactly to build your confidence so be sure to check it out right after this one. Building your confidence is key. A lot of people don’t realize that confidence can be so crucial to overcoming anxiety, because a lot of the time anxiety can come from feeling like people are judging you. If you build your confidence and self-esteem, you won’t care as much if people are looking at you or worrying about what they may be thinking about you because, one, you will like who you are, and two, people aren’t actually thinking about you as much as you think they are. Once you realize that, you’ll feel much better.