Painfully shy, always uncomfortable, and rapidly nearing 30.

I’ll give some advice from what I learned to overcome SA. Having close friends with outgoing mature social skills helped develop mine. (27M)

  1. I was taught to be bold

That means having a solid tone, solid attitude, solid demeanour. Gotta force yourself out of comfort zone for this and practice, practice, practice.

Solid tone when speaking in public to retail workers (restaurants, retail stores, fast food). Talking louder and clearer as if there’s another person behind them. This will not be easy but try it even if you are stumbling/stuttering between words.

Solid Attitude This one is hard but doable. Try your best to keep your composure normal and not be flimsy or shaky. Keep your mental ready to respond back to any talking thrown at you.

Solid Demeanour Always remind yourself body composure -do not slouch, look down, shoulders forward. Always a mental fight. Best is remembering good normal posture. Did you noticed how many times I mentioned being normal? Try not to be uptight, rigid or stiff. What I mean being normal is comfortableness.

Hoped this helped abit!

/r/socialanxiety Thread