Dr. Aziz shares three steps he used to beat social anxiety: challenge the voice predicting rejection and test what actually happens, practice a new self-concept by acting how you want to be, and stop harsh self-criticism so you can take social risks and discover you can connect.
Here are the exact three things that I did to beat social anxiety that you can too. I spent over a decade of my life afraid to talk to people, even afraid to do a video like this. Here's how you can shift it. Number one is there's a voice in your head that says it's not going to go well, don't go talk to them, don't go try. You have to get more familiar with challenging that voice again and again and seeing what actually happens in your world, which will upgrade your self concept. Number two is that self concept. So you have a belief. I'm a shy person, I'm a quiet person and we stay consistent with that identity. So you have to be willing to change that to upgrade that. How do you want to be? I want to be warm. I want to be outgoing. Remind yourself of that and then practice that when you're around people. And number three, the fear you have of rejection, of it being awkward, of them not liking you is actually a hyper critical attitude towards yourself. There's a quiet moment. It's no big deal. But if you have a harsh critic, oh my God, it's the worst, and everybody hates me and I should go hide in the hole. You have to get control of that inner critic and get out there and start taking the risks and you'll realize that you have the ability to connect all along.
