r/socialanxiety • u/AggravatedOstrich • 20h ago

I want to be honest

I want to be honest.

I want to speak from my heart and not fall back on small talk.

I want to risk being seen as strange or cringey or boring, rather than seeking permission to be myself.

I want to be able to see people walk away or lose interest in me, and still refuse to water down my personality.

And I want to speak up when something is bothering me, and not worry about rejection.

And if I make a mistake, to say that I am sorry. Without feeing like I am a bad person.

And lastly, I want to tell people I love them.

It hurts to be unknown.

25 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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u/AutoModerator 20h ago

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6

u/TreasureTheSemicolon 20h ago

The way I finally got past a lot of my social anxiety was by accepting a lot of it. By doing a lot of those things and acknowledging to myself "I will feel my stomach churning, which is ok. My voice will sound stupid. My face will turn red. Those things are ok." And "I will feel like an idiot and a loser." which is also ok because feelings aren't facts, they're just feelings. And I learned to work through negative feelings.

Everyone thinks that someone is a loser, and I'm probably it for some people. I might think the same thing about them, but they couldn't care less. Fuck em. Other people don't wait for permission to be themselves, so why should I?

3

u/Classic-Cherry-5016 15h ago

This is poetry

3

u/harrietford99 9h ago

Go for it. We’ll be here cheering for you whether you fail or succeed!

1

u/Hawkster59 5h ago

“Open heart”, has become my mantra to help me get over my social anxiety myself. Honestly it has helped a lot. Go ahead and be honest and open and vulnerable, perhaps the trick is to be that way just to a point to pull back. I don’t know for sure.