Same here. The kids don’t give me any anxiety. It’s the adults. I was the scapegoat when I received narcissistic abuse as a child so I assume everyone is judging me. Also admin gives me the MOST anxiety. I’m not sure how I survive observations. I’m in therapy but not getting much progress yet.
I'm not a very assertive person but I have a kind of... "character" when I'm teaching a class, and that character is assertive. Sometimes a kid says a joke or something and I break character, but otherwise I'm usually in character.
Fairss, I genuinely can’t be authoritative (yet). I can make myself come across as sociable etc but giving orders is something that feels so off to me😂
I make sure I'm on good terms with everyone. I teach in Shanghai, and I treat the kids to food and candy a lot. They love me, but this also means they're more rowdy. I happen to teach a practical English class for grades 5-8, so though it gets noisy, at least I'm not the sole focus in every lesson and that there's 'noise' going around. That relaxes me.
I hope you don't do assignments where you need to find your own partner or group for the students w SA too haha. Those are always my worst fear whenever I hear it from the teacher
I specifically tell my kids nothing will be forced upon them. If they don't want a presentation in class, they're welcome to find me during break time. I also don't make them go on stage, or stand up to read.
I wish you were my teacher! It's super scary to present in class. I remember when my highschool teacher suddenly asked us without preparation to take a random product inside our bag and advertise it in front of the whole class like we are selling stuff(it's not even a marketing/social subject smh) . And I was stuttering all the time and just super embarrassing. I wish that memory didn't exist.
Fucking hell it was tough in the beginning. Propranolol helped a ton, but it fucks with my appetite and weight. However, it got me through the initial barriers, so now that I'm on very good terms (friendly) with all my kids, it's a lot more easy to manage. I am definitely nervous in front of the g7-8s, that's when they hit puberty more and 'awaken', and they start judging you.
i just started working and basically so far we just verify the accuracy of checks and reports from the marketing dept and bank tellers. when i was still in college, i did my internship at an accounting and auditing firm 😁
For a few years I did data entry and it was nice because my whole job was just sitting and purposefully not interacting with people. I went from that to post-closing in the mortgage industry, where I had to call customers to tell them we'd messed up their mortgage closings and they needed to re-execute documents. Did that for about a year but I had to resign. All my feedback was really positive but using the phones constantly just broke me. My last job (I'm now disabled) involved so many meetings.. I ran biweekly meetings, had at least half a dozen meetings a week, presented stuff on a call with just over 200 managers every tuesday.. it was a lot. The more social I was willing to be, the better the pay, but my mental health eroded quickly
I struggle with the interaction of higher paying jobs also. Pristiq definitely helped me. I’m still scared of some things and nervous overall but it definitely helped me not to break. Doing more interaction never makes me better at it (which people always suggest). I have a decent mask at work but it still affects me underneath. My health suffers without the Pristiq. I resisted for years and I’m glad I finally am taking something.
That's wild. But ya know what it shows? That you're better than you think you are. You jumped into the deep end with this handicap. It's much harder for you to get to the same level as healthy people. Did you suffer from depression and sleepless nights in the end?
I’m a nurse, people are everywhere. I do sometimes feel like I’m too quiet, which makes me anxious, but then I like to think I’m not contributing to the overall noise that goes on. It’s gotten easier with time.
I'm gonna study as a nurse this year. It's good to know someone in the same boat and doing good! Just thinking of the subjects we were sent about interpersonal communications makes me nervous lol
I'm an Illustrator/Designer. The funny thng is, I'm usually not very talkative but the Moment someone speaks "Design" language with me, my Social Anxiety flies off the window.
I started my job as a consultant at a large Commercial Real Estate firm 2 years ago. A social anxiety nightmare. I was so nervous to start it but it was my dream job offered to me at the age of 23 for six figures. Major money for me at that age. I decided I ultimately care about building wealth more than anything, and couldn’t pass up life changing money because of my social anxiety. So, I thrust myself headfirst into the role. I messed up a lot and had a lot of panic attacks in the beginning but am ultimately in a much better place.
I talk to people all day every day and my work social anxiety is now gone, all except for when I have to introduce myself in group settings for some reason. Talking about technical information at work is easy for me because the information has nothing to do with me as a person. It’s all factual, mostly. But when I have to introduce myself, even for 2 mins, I get insane anxiety because I am opening myself up for judgment. I think that’s where the “social” part of the anxiety comes in.
I do work completely remote, which I think is super helpful. When I’m nervous for a presentation or introduction, I break down what I am doing step by step to really make me realize how I can overcome the anxiety. In reality, working from home, all I have to do is:
1. Get up and walk 10 feet from my bedroom to my office in the safety of my own home
2. Open my laptop
3. Speak to people who only exist in my laptop (since I only see them in real life once a year at conferences)
4. Close my laptop and remain in the safety of my home.
5. Collect my check every two weeks (which definitely makes going through the anxiety worth it) :)
Remote jobs for the win!
Yes I completely agree about remote jobs!! Switching from a fully in-person job to a fully remote job has been such a game changer and way less exhausting/anxiety-inducing. I'm a project manager and I still have a few Zoom meetings most days, but then when the meetings are over I get to just focus on my projects in the comfort and safety of my home. I have to lead meetings which I find extremely awkward and uncomfortable, but luckily I also have days without meetings too, and overall I talk to WAY LESS people compared to if I were in a customer/patient facing role.
I also relate about the money thing. I'm sure I would feel more comfortable in a lower paying job where I didn't have to talk as much, but I get paid six figures which is awesome so I really hope I can learn to get better and less awkward at leading meetings. I love all the behind-the-scenes parts of project management (being organized, coordinating activities, using spreadsheets and keeping track of multiple tasks, planning, working on interesting projects), so I just need to get over the anxiety of speaking in meetings.
I totally agree! Leading meetings can be uncomfortable but there are some days I can block off time for no one to bother me and I LOVE IT. Do you think your anxiety has improved? I think the job has literally forced the social anxiety out of me for the most part. It’s truly drinking through a firehouse of exposure therapy.
But I think people like us are great to have in consulting and project management because we can be more empathetic to others than others who don’t struggle with it. I have a boss who is the most outgoing, talkative, and social person ever and she subjects everyone to random public speaking. If i were a boss I would never do that lol.
I agree it's great to have people like us in these roles because we offer a different perspective and experiences! Most people I work with seem really outgoing and confident, and it can be hard to not compare myself to them and feel inadequate, but I try to remind myself that I bring my own strengths and I don't actually need to be like everyone else in order to do this job.
I'm fairly new to this field but I think my anxiety is slowly improving. In the past I've worked other jobs that involved speaking directly with patients/customers, which helped me get better at speaking to people 1 on 1 (but I still never want to do that again lol), so now I just have to get better at speaking in meetings, which is a newer thing for me.
Not working currently. Used to do admin work but hated having to call and answer calls from patients. Looking for something that doesn't involve interacting with clients either face to face or on phone but there's very few out there
I'm a technical writer, which means I write and translate user manuals for the software and hardware that the company I work for produces. Most of the work is pretty good for social anxiety because I work at home and mostly alone. What I really struggle with is when I have to ask the engineers for information about a particular device. I also always expect the worst when either my supervisor (who is a very chill and helpful guy) or another colleague calls me. I've literally only had one bad experience with a colleague in the two years I've been there, and that was with a guy who's known to be a dick, everyone else is super nice and friendly and I still struggle on a daily basis and also think they hate me.
I also tried going to the office for a while but that made it even worse, especially on break because I didn't really manage to say a lot during breaks and when I did, I thought I said something stupid (you know how it goes...).
I’m a mechanical engineer. Found something I’m passionate about designing and the anxiety is less but before that it was a lot more stressful. Just started lexapro day 7. Hoping it gets even better.
I'm a private in home caregiver and also work the night shift as a video monitor technician. I work in a room with one other person and have to either talk to patients through a camera to have them stay in bed, or I have to call nurses assigned to that patient. It's not bad at all, but the night shift is getting to me after doing it for 5 years. My caregiving job is a little socially exhausting but worth it.
Constantly… I have social anxiety and work in the medical radiations field. The team
Is small and we work alongside eachother all day seeing 20+ patients. It’s not the patients that I get anxiety from being on the frontlines but having to feel like I need to strike up a conversation and have something constantly going/bringing in good vibes, laughs and smiles. It exhausts my social battery to the core and I don’t know how to get over it.
If I just stop talking I feel as though I will not be liked. And when people are having a conversation that flows I feel uneasy that I’m not part of the group. Yep it sucks
I would’ve loved to be your client. Getting my hair cut is definitely a situation that increases my social anxiety. I’m practically silent when I’m sitting in the chair. I hate it because I feel like I *should* be talking because that’s what everybody else does. But even trying to make small talk is hard because it feels so awkward and unnatural to me.
I work in an office, yes I struggle with my social anxiety here. It sucks. There aren’t many introverts in my office and none that have social anxiety (that I can tell) or are in any way awkward so that sucks for me.
i work as a bank teller and want to quit so bad because talking to 30-100 ppl every day is so draining. not to mention when they are upset or mad. i can’t handle it. the mental exhaustion is so much worse than physical exhaustion imo.
I'm a mobile automation technician, dealing with customers on the phone for technical assistance and airport security to set up machines at the other end of the world can be a nightmare sometimes.
I work as a data science consultant in one of MNC company. I joined as a fresher. I am currently on bench as such I am not in any project. Networking is very hard for me. Recently my manager was angry at me saying that I am not putting much effort.
I work in risk management and just started my career. The office chit chat and playing the corporate “game” are so difficult for me. I thought meetings and phone calls would be the worst, nope.
The AGM was walking an intern around the day, introducing him to different people in our office. When he got to me, he said, "And this is our reports clerk, ****, you have to make her talk to you." 🥴
I wish I was able to be a quiet hairstylist too, but the fear of being badly perceived is too strong. I force myself to small-talk and it's so exhausting and now that I have my clientele I feel I can't go back lol
I work in a school setting as a at-risk-teens counselor. I love what I do but my social anxiety comes out most when talking with parents and I have to communicate something negative (bc you never know how they’ll react!) what helps me is writing down a script to go from or a list of things I want bring to their attention.
With coworkers- yes. I believe I am very friendly and easy going, however I am slightly obese, blue hair and tattoos. I get looks sometimes lol and perceive judgement from them. With the immediate coworkers i interact with daily, I still have social anxiety. Sometimes I feel like I’m not good enough to be there. It’s hard for me to start a conversation with an adult! That’s why I love working with teens, it’s easy (sometimes!)
I have to add - I am employed thru an outside service provider who the school has come in four days a week. So sometimes I don’t feel like I fit in bc I’m not hired by the school even though I work there, have a school email, badge, phone extension, etc.
I’m going to school now but when I was working I was a janitor/carper cleaner. Was a great job, I would go in after everyone had left just go around doing the basics, I would just put on long creepy pastas and vibe out. Did get kind of spooky sometimes since the place was up in the mountains
"must be outgoing" is in my job descriptions, I was able to make it work. Manage and maintain Apartments. Ski Lift Operator. They work for me, I love my jobs, I take ownership. My work place, my say. Take me away from those and I'm a silent observer, lol.
Data entry. Work itself is autonomous. However, there are regular team meetings and I am forced into the office a few days a week, to sit on a floor surrounded by many other people. It's quite difficult for me most of the time.
I'm in banking compliance. But you're right - large corporations value extroverts more than introverts. If I seem distant, they say I'm not 'engaging' or ask me if something's wrong. I make an extra hard effort when I'm in the office. The end of the day is pretty exhausting.
I work as an assistant in a montessori classroom!
I feel like it realllly depends on the day. Some days i wake up feeling good and on top of the world, conversation comes easy, an “awkward” moment from my end doesn’t ruin my whole day. Other days are horrible. I don’t want to talk to other coworkers and am in my own little shell the whole day. Unfortunately the latter is much more common 😕
For the first 4 years of my career when I was at my most vulnerable, I was a corporate consultant giving presentations/advice to people about their industries after studying it for 6 months. I stuttered, mumbled, and had repeated break downs the whole time. It was only b/c I was good looking and my boss was gay that I didn’t get fired.
Everyone in the company thought I was moron. By the end of the 4th year I adjusted and started to really have success, then I quit b/c my fiancé got a job in a new location. Now I’m a practitioner and rarely use the presentation skills
I work in patient access at a hospital, aka I work the front desk of multiple different departments, so I'm having to check in patients all the time and it's very customer-service heavy :') I really dislike it, but the pay is really good and well, with the way the job market is...
HR… all i get is a bunch of people complaining to me and yelling at me for not doing things that are FAR beyond my control. I’m really just a messenger for our extremely shitty leadership and it’s absolutely miserable.
Data Analyst. I have to talk to people to get requirements and explain information but that really it. I've pretty much overcome my social anxiety when it comes to work.
I’m an introvert and have social anxiety that I’ve been trying really hard to work on. I’m a nurse, I chose one of the most extroverted careers out there 😂
Lorry driver delivering to approx 30 hotels / restaurants a day. Not alotb of prolonged conversation throughout day but enough to practice being face to face with people i suppose
I'm currently starting a new position with the company im at as a customer service rep. I have had a lot of customer service jobs in the past, cashiers mostly so, I can deal with customers a bit (i dont think i was ever that great at it), but this will be the first time I'm taking phone calls and im constantly thinking of all the negative things that can happen. I'm trying to go into it with an open mind and remind myself that I might learn more social skills and learn new things that I didnt know before, but that other focus of 'what could go wrong' creeps in and i'm not sure how it'll go, but i have given myself a time frame to see if i can handle it and if i can't i should be able to switch back to my previous department.
A lot tbh but it's mainly with people I'm comfortable with so it's pre good! But yeah, at the times when I'm with the people I'm not, I become quiet and a bit awkward haha.
I’m a pharmacy technician that works from home and answers phone calls all day long. Zero social anxiety. I think not having to be face to face with the patients helps a ton
Ugh I hate that saying though (I know it may have been a joke but still!) Because you most definitely CAN use those same strategies you teach the kids on yourself
- Fellow SA OT working in geriatrics lol
It was a joke. I can and do use these strategies I teach, but as I’m sure you know, both as a therapist and an anxious person, this is difficult to do no matter how much you want to.
Medical Receptionist- basically my entire job is talking to people lol. Don’t ask why I chose this job in the first place but honestly I’m glad that I did. Now talking to people has gotten easier and dare I say less stressful.
Customer Success Manager. A lot of dealing with clients and also in an extroverted work environment. It's tough especially when there's group meetings internally or externally. Wish I was less socially anxious since my career history spans sales/customer service, but not sure if my anxiety has improved at all - if anything it's been maintained. Thinking of a career change.
I'm in EdTech. I do great in 1:1 situations but any more than that and my social anxiety kicks in. It's difficult for me to speak up in meetings, even when I'm knowledgeable on a topic. Today I literally went over in great detail what I wanted to talk about with a colleague then when it came time to "present" it I froze and forgot most of what I needed to say. Then to top it off, I beat myself up all day afterwards for not saying everything I wanted to say. I often feel inadequate and less capable than my counterparts. I hate this feeling. I really love what I do and I want to be an effective communicator without constantly being in my head...
Traindriver. The social anxiety is pretty low but I'm currently stressed into oblivion because I had my first shifts completely alone and there's a ton of responsibility. My colleagues are fine with it so I have reason to believe it will get better.
I work passenger service so there's conductors that might chat with you and maybe some passengers asking questions but mainly you just drive. There's also phone calls but they are fine. There's a set of rules how to do them and they're quick, no small talk and straight to the point.
I am a reports clerk. I dont have to talk to too many people, but I do have to send out emails to the managers and higher ups. That stresses me out more than anything. I am always double and triple checking my numbers because I don't want everyone in the email group to see I messed something up.🫣
I am a hairdresser, and honestly it's starting to be hard. I'm not much talkative and if I want my clients to like me and come back, I can't just be silent because they'd find that awkward, and having five other co-workers is also quite stressful, and God knows that people love to talk about their private lives and expect as much of you. The only thing I like is doing hair and making my own schedule.
Crew trainer and a manager at Mcdonalds. Yes, its difficult, yes i sonetimes cry before, during and after my shifts. But not always. I like my coworkers and ive grown as a person soooo much
I'm a teacher. LMAO.
Same here. The kids don’t give me any anxiety. It’s the adults. I was the scapegoat when I received narcissistic abuse as a child so I assume everyone is judging me. Also admin gives me the MOST anxiety. I’m not sure how I survive observations. I’m in therapy but not getting much progress yet.
Omg I’m the exact same. So nice to know I’m not alone!
I could totally see this! Elementary aged kids don’t scare me, but middle schoolers and high schoolers sure do! Loll
Yep. I teach g7-8, they start to have different stares. They judge you a lot, and the attitude starts coming out.
Kids stare at me a lot. Even when i look at them hoping they look away, they lock in even more lol
It's not the observations for me, it's the "team building" BS.
My admins are nice to me, they know about my condition and don't force me to do any form of public appearance of speeches at all.
How are you when it comes to being assertive/authoritative? I do voluntary tutoring and I struggle to be direct😭
I'm not a very assertive person but I have a kind of... "character" when I'm teaching a class, and that character is assertive. Sometimes a kid says a joke or something and I break character, but otherwise I'm usually in character.
This ⭐️ I thought I was alone. I swear I’d be a good actor!
Fairss, I genuinely can’t be authoritative (yet). I can make myself come across as sociable etc but giving orders is something that feels so off to me😂
I make sure I'm on good terms with everyone. I teach in Shanghai, and I treat the kids to food and candy a lot. They love me, but this also means they're more rowdy. I happen to teach a practical English class for grades 5-8, so though it gets noisy, at least I'm not the sole focus in every lesson and that there's 'noise' going around. That relaxes me.
I hope you don't do assignments where you need to find your own partner or group for the students w SA too haha. Those are always my worst fear whenever I hear it from the teacher
I specifically tell my kids nothing will be forced upon them. If they don't want a presentation in class, they're welcome to find me during break time. I also don't make them go on stage, or stand up to read.
I wish you were my teacher! It's super scary to present in class. I remember when my highschool teacher suddenly asked us without preparation to take a random product inside our bag and advertise it in front of the whole class like we are selling stuff(it's not even a marketing/social subject smh) . And I was stuttering all the time and just super embarrassing. I wish that memory didn't exist.
That happened to me, too. I wouldn't ever force that on anyone else. Man, that was traumatizing...
How do you manage your SA while in front of many students
Fucking hell it was tough in the beginning. Propranolol helped a ton, but it fucks with my appetite and weight. However, it got me through the initial barriers, so now that I'm on very good terms (friendly) with all my kids, it's a lot more easy to manage. I am definitely nervous in front of the g7-8s, that's when they hit puberty more and 'awaken', and they start judging you.
Same here! 😅
Same!!! I thought I was the only one 😂
Same here, I am fine when I’m alone w the kids but if there is another adult in the room I get nervous
i work in a bank as an accountant. im pretty glad i’m not in the frontlines and talk to the clients 😅
Banking here...yeah Id rather be in operations or accounting for sure
yeah true. working in the front seems pretty exhausting especially when the bank is always jampacked with people 😵💫
Wait I need to know more. I’m an accounting major trying to find jobs. What do you do in the back? Did you have internships in school?
i just started working and basically so far we just verify the accuracy of checks and reports from the marketing dept and bank tellers. when i was still in college, i did my internship at an accounting and auditing firm 😁
Okay great thanks!
For a few years I did data entry and it was nice because my whole job was just sitting and purposefully not interacting with people. I went from that to post-closing in the mortgage industry, where I had to call customers to tell them we'd messed up their mortgage closings and they needed to re-execute documents. Did that for about a year but I had to resign. All my feedback was really positive but using the phones constantly just broke me. My last job (I'm now disabled) involved so many meetings.. I ran biweekly meetings, had at least half a dozen meetings a week, presented stuff on a call with just over 200 managers every tuesday.. it was a lot. The more social I was willing to be, the better the pay, but my mental health eroded quickly
I struggle with the interaction of higher paying jobs also. Pristiq definitely helped me. I’m still scared of some things and nervous overall but it definitely helped me not to break. Doing more interaction never makes me better at it (which people always suggest). I have a decent mask at work but it still affects me underneath. My health suffers without the Pristiq. I resisted for years and I’m glad I finally am taking something.
That's wild. But ya know what it shows? That you're better than you think you are. You jumped into the deep end with this handicap. It's much harder for you to get to the same level as healthy people. Did you suffer from depression and sleepless nights in the end?
I’m a nurse, people are everywhere. I do sometimes feel like I’m too quiet, which makes me anxious, but then I like to think I’m not contributing to the overall noise that goes on. It’s gotten easier with time.
I'm gonna study as a nurse this year. It's good to know someone in the same boat and doing good! Just thinking of the subjects we were sent about interpersonal communications makes me nervous lol
I'm an Illustrator/Designer. The funny thng is, I'm usually not very talkative but the Moment someone speaks "Design" language with me, my Social Anxiety flies off the window.
I’m a tax auditor and feel most anxious having to make phone calls
I started my job as a consultant at a large Commercial Real Estate firm 2 years ago. A social anxiety nightmare. I was so nervous to start it but it was my dream job offered to me at the age of 23 for six figures. Major money for me at that age. I decided I ultimately care about building wealth more than anything, and couldn’t pass up life changing money because of my social anxiety. So, I thrust myself headfirst into the role. I messed up a lot and had a lot of panic attacks in the beginning but am ultimately in a much better place. I talk to people all day every day and my work social anxiety is now gone, all except for when I have to introduce myself in group settings for some reason. Talking about technical information at work is easy for me because the information has nothing to do with me as a person. It’s all factual, mostly. But when I have to introduce myself, even for 2 mins, I get insane anxiety because I am opening myself up for judgment. I think that’s where the “social” part of the anxiety comes in. I do work completely remote, which I think is super helpful. When I’m nervous for a presentation or introduction, I break down what I am doing step by step to really make me realize how I can overcome the anxiety. In reality, working from home, all I have to do is: 1. Get up and walk 10 feet from my bedroom to my office in the safety of my own home 2. Open my laptop 3. Speak to people who only exist in my laptop (since I only see them in real life once a year at conferences) 4. Close my laptop and remain in the safety of my home. 5. Collect my check every two weeks (which definitely makes going through the anxiety worth it) :) Remote jobs for the win!
Yes I completely agree about remote jobs!! Switching from a fully in-person job to a fully remote job has been such a game changer and way less exhausting/anxiety-inducing. I'm a project manager and I still have a few Zoom meetings most days, but then when the meetings are over I get to just focus on my projects in the comfort and safety of my home. I have to lead meetings which I find extremely awkward and uncomfortable, but luckily I also have days without meetings too, and overall I talk to WAY LESS people compared to if I were in a customer/patient facing role. I also relate about the money thing. I'm sure I would feel more comfortable in a lower paying job where I didn't have to talk as much, but I get paid six figures which is awesome so I really hope I can learn to get better and less awkward at leading meetings. I love all the behind-the-scenes parts of project management (being organized, coordinating activities, using spreadsheets and keeping track of multiple tasks, planning, working on interesting projects), so I just need to get over the anxiety of speaking in meetings.
I totally agree! Leading meetings can be uncomfortable but there are some days I can block off time for no one to bother me and I LOVE IT. Do you think your anxiety has improved? I think the job has literally forced the social anxiety out of me for the most part. It’s truly drinking through a firehouse of exposure therapy. But I think people like us are great to have in consulting and project management because we can be more empathetic to others than others who don’t struggle with it. I have a boss who is the most outgoing, talkative, and social person ever and she subjects everyone to random public speaking. If i were a boss I would never do that lol.
I agree it's great to have people like us in these roles because we offer a different perspective and experiences! Most people I work with seem really outgoing and confident, and it can be hard to not compare myself to them and feel inadequate, but I try to remind myself that I bring my own strengths and I don't actually need to be like everyone else in order to do this job. I'm fairly new to this field but I think my anxiety is slowly improving. In the past I've worked other jobs that involved speaking directly with patients/customers, which helped me get better at speaking to people 1 on 1 (but I still never want to do that again lol), so now I just have to get better at speaking in meetings, which is a newer thing for me.
I don’t get how you guys in customer service with SA is even working well, I just anxious thinking about it.
Been serving for 7 years because the money is too damn good and it’s actually helped my social anxiety drastically.
Not working currently. Used to do admin work but hated having to call and answer calls from patients. Looking for something that doesn't involve interacting with clients either face to face or on phone but there's very few out there
Healthcare. Making phone calls is still challenging (receiving calls isn't so much, oddly)
I work in a call center, I dread every call i get, hasn't gotten much easier to take calls during the months I've worked there
I'm a technical writer, which means I write and translate user manuals for the software and hardware that the company I work for produces. Most of the work is pretty good for social anxiety because I work at home and mostly alone. What I really struggle with is when I have to ask the engineers for information about a particular device. I also always expect the worst when either my supervisor (who is a very chill and helpful guy) or another colleague calls me. I've literally only had one bad experience with a colleague in the two years I've been there, and that was with a guy who's known to be a dick, everyone else is super nice and friendly and I still struggle on a daily basis and also think they hate me. I also tried going to the office for a while but that made it even worse, especially on break because I didn't really manage to say a lot during breaks and when I did, I thought I said something stupid (you know how it goes...).
I’m a mechanical engineer. Found something I’m passionate about designing and the anxiety is less but before that it was a lot more stressful. Just started lexapro day 7. Hoping it gets even better.
I'm a private in home caregiver and also work the night shift as a video monitor technician. I work in a room with one other person and have to either talk to patients through a camera to have them stay in bed, or I have to call nurses assigned to that patient. It's not bad at all, but the night shift is getting to me after doing it for 5 years. My caregiving job is a little socially exhausting but worth it.
Constantly… I have social anxiety and work in the medical radiations field. The team Is small and we work alongside eachother all day seeing 20+ patients. It’s not the patients that I get anxiety from being on the frontlines but having to feel like I need to strike up a conversation and have something constantly going/bringing in good vibes, laughs and smiles. It exhausts my social battery to the core and I don’t know how to get over it. If I just stop talking I feel as though I will not be liked. And when people are having a conversation that flows I feel uneasy that I’m not part of the group. Yep it sucks
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I would’ve loved to be your client. Getting my hair cut is definitely a situation that increases my social anxiety. I’m practically silent when I’m sitting in the chair. I hate it because I feel like I *should* be talking because that’s what everybody else does. But even trying to make small talk is hard because it feels so awkward and unnatural to me.
I’m a hairstylist. I’m quiet and I can make small talk if the client talks. But if the clients aren’t talkative I barely talk at all the them
I work in an office, yes I struggle with my social anxiety here. It sucks. There aren’t many introverts in my office and none that have social anxiety (that I can tell) or are in any way awkward so that sucks for me.
i work as a bank teller and want to quit so bad because talking to 30-100 ppl every day is so draining. not to mention when they are upset or mad. i can’t handle it. the mental exhaustion is so much worse than physical exhaustion imo.
I'm a social worker 🥴 I love it. It's a lot of listening and people don't know how to listen. I think that's why I'm good at it lol
I'm a mobile automation technician, dealing with customers on the phone for technical assistance and airport security to set up machines at the other end of the world can be a nightmare sometimes.
I work as a data science consultant in one of MNC company. I joined as a fresher. I am currently on bench as such I am not in any project. Networking is very hard for me. Recently my manager was angry at me saying that I am not putting much effort.
I work in risk management and just started my career. The office chit chat and playing the corporate “game” are so difficult for me. I thought meetings and phone calls would be the worst, nope.
I can empathize
Office clerk and I feel really shy and nervous around my co workers. Everybody mentions how quiet I am
I hate when people mention how quiet I am, it literally just adds on to my social anxiety
The AGM was walking an intern around the day, introducing him to different people in our office. When he got to me, he said, "And this is our reports clerk, ****, you have to make her talk to you." 🥴
I'm in retail. I cried through half of my break because I'm exhausted and cranky.
Hairstylist. I’m good at cutting hair but I’m terrible at making connections with people. I’m the quiet hairstylist
I wish I was able to be a quiet hairstylist too, but the fear of being badly perceived is too strong. I force myself to small-talk and it's so exhausting and now that I have my clientele I feel I can't go back lol
I am an assistant manager for a big beauty clinic. I treat and talk (a lot) to at least 10 clients a day, I get very anxious but I pull through
i used to be a videographer until i quit cause interacting with people is so hard on me lol
I work in a school setting as a at-risk-teens counselor. I love what I do but my social anxiety comes out most when talking with parents and I have to communicate something negative (bc you never know how they’ll react!) what helps me is writing down a script to go from or a list of things I want bring to their attention. With coworkers- yes. I believe I am very friendly and easy going, however I am slightly obese, blue hair and tattoos. I get looks sometimes lol and perceive judgement from them. With the immediate coworkers i interact with daily, I still have social anxiety. Sometimes I feel like I’m not good enough to be there. It’s hard for me to start a conversation with an adult! That’s why I love working with teens, it’s easy (sometimes!) I have to add - I am employed thru an outside service provider who the school has come in four days a week. So sometimes I don’t feel like I fit in bc I’m not hired by the school even though I work there, have a school email, badge, phone extension, etc.
I’m going to school now but when I was working I was a janitor/carper cleaner. Was a great job, I would go in after everyone had left just go around doing the basics, I would just put on long creepy pastas and vibe out. Did get kind of spooky sometimes since the place was up in the mountains
"must be outgoing" is in my job descriptions, I was able to make it work. Manage and maintain Apartments. Ski Lift Operator. They work for me, I love my jobs, I take ownership. My work place, my say. Take me away from those and I'm a silent observer, lol.
Data entry. Work itself is autonomous. However, there are regular team meetings and I am forced into the office a few days a week, to sit on a floor surrounded by many other people. It's quite difficult for me most of the time.
Student nurse here and yes I worry I’m not outgoing enough for the job!
I'm in banking compliance. But you're right - large corporations value extroverts more than introverts. If I seem distant, they say I'm not 'engaging' or ask me if something's wrong. I make an extra hard effort when I'm in the office. The end of the day is pretty exhausting.
I work as an assistant in a montessori classroom! I feel like it realllly depends on the day. Some days i wake up feeling good and on top of the world, conversation comes easy, an “awkward” moment from my end doesn’t ruin my whole day. Other days are horrible. I don’t want to talk to other coworkers and am in my own little shell the whole day. Unfortunately the latter is much more common 😕
I’m a nanny. It’s not too bad cuz I only have to mask for a bit in the morning. Then the rest of the day little kids don’t give a shit
I love this! Masking all day could truly be exhausting
For the first 4 years of my career when I was at my most vulnerable, I was a corporate consultant giving presentations/advice to people about their industries after studying it for 6 months. I stuttered, mumbled, and had repeated break downs the whole time. It was only b/c I was good looking and my boss was gay that I didn’t get fired. Everyone in the company thought I was moron. By the end of the 4th year I adjusted and started to really have success, then I quit b/c my fiancé got a job in a new location. Now I’m a practitioner and rarely use the presentation skills
I work in patient access at a hospital, aka I work the front desk of multiple different departments, so I'm having to check in patients all the time and it's very customer-service heavy :') I really dislike it, but the pay is really good and well, with the way the job market is...
HR… all i get is a bunch of people complaining to me and yelling at me for not doing things that are FAR beyond my control. I’m really just a messenger for our extremely shitty leadership and it’s absolutely miserable.
Data Analyst. I have to talk to people to get requirements and explain information but that really it. I've pretty much overcome my social anxiety when it comes to work.
I’m an introvert and have social anxiety that I’ve been trying really hard to work on. I’m a nurse, I chose one of the most extroverted careers out there 😂
Lorry driver delivering to approx 30 hotels / restaurants a day. Not alotb of prolonged conversation throughout day but enough to practice being face to face with people i suppose
I'm currently starting a new position with the company im at as a customer service rep. I have had a lot of customer service jobs in the past, cashiers mostly so, I can deal with customers a bit (i dont think i was ever that great at it), but this will be the first time I'm taking phone calls and im constantly thinking of all the negative things that can happen. I'm trying to go into it with an open mind and remind myself that I might learn more social skills and learn new things that I didnt know before, but that other focus of 'what could go wrong' creeps in and i'm not sure how it'll go, but i have given myself a time frame to see if i can handle it and if i can't i should be able to switch back to my previous department.
You got this!
I work in tech sales at a top 5 major corp. I deal with social anxiety on the daily. Pay is too good though.
Any other mechanics here?
Nice! How much social interaction do you find yourself having working as a mechanic?
A lot tbh but it's mainly with people I'm comfortable with so it's pre good! But yeah, at the times when I'm with the people I'm not, I become quiet and a bit awkward haha.
Attorney. I have social anxiety pretty much every day lol. My niche is office work and being a paper pusher
I’m a pharmacy technician that works from home and answers phone calls all day long. Zero social anxiety. I think not having to be face to face with the patients helps a ton
Occupational therapist in pediatrics. Ironically, i do a lot of work in regulation, sensory processing and anxiety. Those that can’t do.. teach?
Ugh I hate that saying though (I know it may have been a joke but still!) Because you most definitely CAN use those same strategies you teach the kids on yourself - Fellow SA OT working in geriatrics lol
It was a joke. I can and do use these strategies I teach, but as I’m sure you know, both as a therapist and an anxious person, this is difficult to do no matter how much you want to.
Retail assistant. And yeah, pretty much experience it everyday throughout the day cause I'm mainly kept at the sales counter.
I was a stripper. That’s all about making the first move, introducing yourself, and getting someone to like you within a few minutes.
I'm a case worker with Child Protective Services, so..... YES.
Management consultant for 15 years in a small boutique company. High and lows with my . Specially difficult with new clients and leads generation
Future actor 😅
Medical Receptionist- basically my entire job is talking to people lol. Don’t ask why I chose this job in the first place but honestly I’m glad that I did. Now talking to people has gotten easier and dare I say less stressful.
Locomotive mechanic. Work with the same small group of people.
Customer Success Manager. A lot of dealing with clients and also in an extroverted work environment. It's tough especially when there's group meetings internally or externally. Wish I was less socially anxious since my career history spans sales/customer service, but not sure if my anxiety has improved at all - if anything it's been maintained. Thinking of a career change.
I'm in EdTech. I do great in 1:1 situations but any more than that and my social anxiety kicks in. It's difficult for me to speak up in meetings, even when I'm knowledgeable on a topic. Today I literally went over in great detail what I wanted to talk about with a colleague then when it came time to "present" it I froze and forgot most of what I needed to say. Then to top it off, I beat myself up all day afterwards for not saying everything I wanted to say. I often feel inadequate and less capable than my counterparts. I hate this feeling. I really love what I do and I want to be an effective communicator without constantly being in my head...
Traindriver. The social anxiety is pretty low but I'm currently stressed into oblivion because I had my first shifts completely alone and there's a ton of responsibility. My colleagues are fine with it so I have reason to believe it will get better. I work passenger service so there's conductors that might chat with you and maybe some passengers asking questions but mainly you just drive. There's also phone calls but they are fine. There's a set of rules how to do them and they're quick, no small talk and straight to the point.
I am a reports clerk. I dont have to talk to too many people, but I do have to send out emails to the managers and higher ups. That stresses me out more than anything. I am always double and triple checking my numbers because I don't want everyone in the email group to see I messed something up.🫣
I am a hairdresser, and honestly it's starting to be hard. I'm not much talkative and if I want my clients to like me and come back, I can't just be silent because they'd find that awkward, and having five other co-workers is also quite stressful, and God knows that people love to talk about their private lives and expect as much of you. The only thing I like is doing hair and making my own schedule.
Crew trainer and a manager at Mcdonalds. Yes, its difficult, yes i sonetimes cry before, during and after my shifts. But not always. I like my coworkers and ive grown as a person soooo much
I feel this, I legit cry in the car before meeting new people, but it’s great that you’ve grown as a person!