[New Blog Post] Social Anxiety: Five alternative ways to enjoy summer.

The Aunty Social Forum. A place for introverts, quiet folk and those who want to escape the chaos of social media. Autism - Social Anxiety - Introversion - Neurodivergent - United Kingdom - UK

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We have a brand new blog post. If you have already read it, thank you! If not, here's the link:

https://www.auntysocialworld.com/post/social-anxiety-five-alternative-ways-to-enjoy-summer

Feel free to let us know what you think, or make some of your own suggestions in the comments below.

4 comments

Comments (4)

Liz

Jul 31, 2023

I don't like busy in general when it feels crowded. But I only became like this after all the covid lockdowns, due to exaggerating issues I already had.

Jon

Aug 02, 2023

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Replying to

Hi Liz,

I can understand where you are coming from here, my social anxiety has also become worse since COVID. I think for me it was the supposed return to 'normal' that made things worse. During those lock down years I had a taste of a different sort of lifestyle. Certain social pressures were removed and the world was generally a quieter place. Once the lockdowns ended, I felt I was forced back into being around people again.

I don't know if I can say that COVID and the lock-down period caused my social anxiety to worsen, or whether I have just become more self-aware. I guess it's a bit of both.

Liz

Aug 02, 2023

Replying to

For me when the word 'normal' was being used for many months and even a couple of years after lockdown started easing, it made me angry. (It still is a touchy topic in parts) because what was going on in my life wasn't normal.

The lockdown has caused a lot of pain for me on a personal level from the effects caused to me, or the witnessing of further decline to my mum and damage done by that.

I won't forgive the Government and I won't forget.

I am nearly back to normality myself. But I am not back to the level as before and I can't see me getting back to the level I would like to do, which is to go back on coach trips or coach holidays.

I won't go further into the why's of it because I don't want my post to become a very long one.

Laura

Jul 28, 2023

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I know that we wrote this post but I just wanted to leave a comment here...

Summer can feel overwhelming, particularly when the weekends arrive and everywhere is so busy. It helps to know that it's only for a short period and thankfully, where we live in Pembrokeshire the particularly busy spots are quite predictable (e.g. the coastal paths and beaches).

It's not always about physical crowds though. Sometimes, social anxiety can be about knowing a single person is in close proximity, or simply a fear of seeing someone you know (I wrote about this recently in our Social Anxiety Chat forum area). Sometimes it's a fear of strangers, and at times not knowing how to act when strangers cause you anxiety which they may not be aware of (such as getting too close or making a lot of noise).

It can be people who live around you as much as those completely detached from you. Sometimes social anxiety doesn't even have a specific reason or cause - it's just there. You could be sat alone at the top of a hill, looking at everything around you and still be wondering if someone is going to appear. Because just knowing that everywhere is busy, the risk feels 'imminent' even when it isn't present....

Does anyone else find that their social anxiety worsens during busy times, and if so what sort of things do you find helps?

For me, it has to be cycling. Because no matter what happens when I'm out on my bike, I can always ride away from it and be in a different place soon afterwards.

Aunty Social World

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