Anxiety around people

[arbonb]

Hi I also get increased anxiety when I am around too many people especially if everybody is talking at the same time. Anybody else?

[summertime]

yes so me also i always think are they talking about me or not

[The Melody of Rain]

I used to encounter this frequently. I used to think I was the center of everyones jokes, that everyone was talking about me and looking at me. I could never figure out why they would do this.

After about three years of just 'acknowledging' it, I just grew completely tired of it. This happened mainly because I began to question it. Why would I be the butt of everyones jokes? It certainly wasn't due to my physical appearance, as I was at least confident in that area. Why would they devote each and every thought to me? Am I really that bad? And if am actually that bad, how come my parents and friends never notice it? Is it just that something people I dont know notice about me? And if so, how the hell would they even know anything about me at all considering they don't know me?

This kind of questioning was really the beginning of me curing myself. By questioning the logic of the 'bad events', I came to realise that it was all really just self-constructed. An epiphany for me.

[winry]

Yes, I totally agree.

I always think people are looking at me, judging me. I care a lot about what people think; therefore it hinders my ability to just be myself a lot of the time.

Needless to say, the anxiety is heightened when there are a lot of people around!

But as The Melody of Rain said, you just have to keep telling yourself that they are *not* in fact looking at you. Indeed, they don't really care - why should they? Obviously, this knowledge hasn't completely cured me of the problem, but I am aware that people just view me as 'another person'.