The challenge within social anxiety by Angelina

The challenge within social anxiety by Angelina - March 2020 Scholarship Essay

Ever since entering high school, I have always faced extensive challenges- social anxiety disorder. A challenge that has always kept me from stepping out of my comfort zone due to the constant appreciation. Everyday interactions I have, have caused significant anxiety, fear, self-consciousness, and embarrassment because of the fear of being judged by others. As well as the intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers. This fear and anxiety disrupted my daily life due to the avoidance of situations that had an affect on my academic accomplishment and myself. I started to realize this freshman year, with the affects it could have on my academic achievement and school activities, it was definitely something I needed to learn to overcome as soon as possible.
Since social anxiety has prevented myself from living my life with the constant fear of situations, I started to look for different alternatives. The first step I took towards lessening my social anxiety was to discover the main causes of it and how it affected the different aspects of my life. I started to engage myself in deep breathing which became extremely helpful. Controlling my breathing helped myself with relaxation. I then began to face the social situations I feared the most such as joining clubs, sports, school activities, or even answering when being called upon in class rather than just avoiding them. This ultimately affected my academic accomplishments because it never allowed me to step out of my comfort zone in school rather it just caused to have shutdowns and constant breakdowns.
After discovering the basics and the effects behind my social anxiety, I learned it is something I will always have to struggle with. Being that I have dealt with this for the majority of my life I’ve learned to overcome some aspects of my social anxiety but it will always be something that remains a burden. However, I learned that this challenge helped me strive for more even though it takes way more effort on my behalf. This ultimately turned me into a stronger, resourceful and adaptable person for the everyday situations faced.