Social Anxiety Has Improved My Life

[Basketball]

Social anxiety hasnt always been negative impact on my life. I think it has improved my life in some ways. Exmaples:

-While people were out at parties I was working on my basketball game or doing my school work. I feel this game me an advantage and had me more prepared.

-I often feel insecure, this forces me to work out alot with weights to improve myself.

-Being quiet I sit back and observe everything resulting in I remember things and notice things that other people are not.

-Also because of social anxiety I stayed out of trouble in high school. I was known as a good kid with a good reputation

-Social anxiety has forced me to work harder in life...and I like that it pushes me to out work another person.

-In work and school people have always been me as mature no matter what age I was.

-A lot of tmes it is good that I just think things in my head, rather than right away saying them aloud. Whenever I do speak it is wee thought out.

-and I think social anxiety has made me a more caring person.



Of course there is also negatives with social anxiety. Anyone else see positive things with having social anxiety?

[Jurexic5]

Those were all very good, most of which I can relate to.

Let's see...

It's easier to avoid trouble. I've never been in a fight before!

[Ospi]

I definitely feel that my grades and job opportunities have been improved by being such an introvert over the past few years, instead of going out each weekend I was usually doing assignments and working hard and my results reflected that.

So yes in that respect it has had a positive influence but overall I think the negatives of my SA still outweigh the positives.

[strawberryjulius]

Originally Posted by Basketball

-Being quiet I sit back and observe everything resulting in I remember things and notice things that other people are not.

I agree with this one especially.

I can't think of anything else right now. But it was pretty nice going through high school and not being the girl who people made rumours about. If I did do anything worthy of such rumours, no one would even blink an eye.

[kanarazu]

Great thread! SA has helped me get good grades, stay in shape, and not get into any trouble as well, and my parents trust me much more than my sibilings because of this

[tony0306]

As a result of fear of going on an interview, I opened my own company in 1998 and succeeded as a result of my SA by working 12+ hours a day. In 2009, I go to work when I want and leave when I want because I have employees. It's a lot easier to be the interviewer than the interviewee. My employees know I have SAD. As a result I'm viewed as "a nice guy" instead of a "mean boss". Because of my problems I am very considerate of their feelings. Since I give so much consideration, they work VERY hard in return. We are all truly on the same team.

I used the profits from 1999 - 2003 to buy 4 houses that I rent out now for "retirement".

I opened another company in 2005 selling a product on the internet (totally eliminates any social contact what so ever) and that's making more than my original endeavour. Everything is done via e-mail, including buying product from China. The only thing I have to do that requires face to face is open the door for the Fedex guy who either drops off empty boxes to pack orders into and picks up full boxes of orders sold when my warehouse guy takes the day off. Oh, I had to go to the bank to open a checking account too once.

I mentioned I'm considered "nice". My SA made me a better person by transforming me from a jerk in high school to one of the most considerate people on earth.

So, I turned my solitary time with SA into something positive by finding (creating) ways of making money from nothing, and learned about the word "consideration" which I had no idea existed before. I'm sure there are other things too I can't think of at the moment.

Everything I learned to be successful was from Zig Ziglar and Robert Kiyosaki. Books on CD available at no charge from your local library. I don't like to read, so I listen on CD. Motivation required to succeed powered by SA.

[Basketball]

Tony0306 thats impressive......awesome post.

[tony0306]

Originally Posted by Basketball

Tony0306 thats impressive......awesome post.

Thank you.

I'm not going to lie, it was tough. I had to figure out "work arounds" for all my SA problems. I spent more time and effort on workarounds than I would if I put in the effort to do it and not work around it.

My first company I took clients that other salespeople went to visit. I've worked with these people now for 11+ years and never saw their face, even though some of their offices are within 2 blocks away, others are less than a 10 minute drive. Sad, pathetic and embarassing. I do a good job, so they keep coming back and giving me business.

The houses required me to fax power of attorney to my attorney so he could sign the house forms at the closings.

The third company was intentionally designed and carefully crafted around my SA.

[Metallic]

My grades are actually getting worse because of my SA. Sophomore year of college I was anxious no matter where I went so I could never focus. The last thing I wanted to do was make myself more miserable by doing work so I found it very hard to have any motivation. Although I do feel that I have to excel in everything else to makeup for my lack of social skills.

I guess it effects us all in different ways. :/

[Basketball]

Tony thats cool that your employees work hard for you and dont try take advantage of you because your nice....some employees you know take kindness for weakness and try to get away with things.

[sb408]

That is really inspiring tony0306. WOW

[burningdesire888]

hey it's great that ur looking at perspectives from such a positive viewpoint. social anxiety has made me a more empathic person for sure. i often relate to others when they feel shy or lonely. knowing this, im also grateful for my problems. every problem is a gift guys. believe this. let me tell u guys why. every problem comes with two things: a leverage for cchange and personal responsiblity. the bigger the problem, the more u want to change it. as with this, comes the fundamental law for self-improvvement: taking personal responsibility for everything in your future life. that means that u r the cause for all future change in ur life. remember, we are not responsible for having social anxiety, but we are the only ones who can change our future.

to your inevitable hopes and dreams,
Michael

[mountain5]

I don't know if it's really "improved" my life. Maybe it's kept me from going down a darker path. Who knows, if I was outgoing in my teen years, maybe I would have ended up in jail or gotten into an unhappy marriage.

tony0306, are you involved in MLM? Just curious, you don't have to answer.

I'm thinking of moving back home and starting a technology consulting company in a few years, but I'm not sure how profitable it can be. My specialty would be back office systems and data processing, not so much the usual "make me a website" kind of jobs.

[tony0306]

Originally Posted by Basketball

Tony thats cool that your employees work hard for you and dont try take advantage of you because your nice....some employees you know take kindness for weakness and try to get away with things.

During the last 11 years fired two people due to "taking advantage" of my generosity, but others that took advantage for a short time were pursuaded to "get with the team".

I warned the two I fired over the course of about a year during each situation. Some tell me that was too long to try to get those two to "turn them around". I told the ones that thought it was too long that sometimes people need more time to "get it together", which I know about all too well. When I gave them that much time to change their ways it demonstrated to the others who do work hard how fair I really am, which motivated them all that much more, because they know I'll be really fair to them. There was some effect on morale when I was being taken advantage of by the ones working hard, but I explained to them about "problems people may have that they don't show" and that encouraged the hard workers to try to encourage those who took advantage to try harder. It was helpful when the whole office, not just me, tried to encourage the 'troubled' to perform to their peak.

It worked in each case except for the two I eventually "let go".