The Black and Gold Community's Magazine
A new journey in the hopes to further enrich our experience both as authors and artists:
The BG Creatives.
Through this, we intend to host monthly writing and art contest for our fellow Wattpaders.
We all face troubles in our daily lives that make uneasiness dominates our brains and nervousness to overwhelm our heads. Moreover, we sometimes find it difficult to communicate due to the changes in daily interaction etiquette.
That in itself, however, does not equate to having social anxiety. There are several symptoms that should manifest before a person may be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
It is easy to confuse nervousness with anxiety when we feel butterflies in our stomachs. However, social anxiety is a much more serious disorder that could drastically affect a person's life to the point that even simple interactions like talking with people or performing eye contact could appear insurmountable. Hence, social anxiety is sometimes referred to as 'social phobia.'
When the person experiences such situations, the brain starts sending alerts to the body in order to respond to the foreign setting. This is why an affected person may have heart palpitations, short breathes, sweaty palms, and an 'out of place' state; that he/she may start squirming and shifting uncomfortably at an attempt to distract himself/herself. Let us say that anxiety is produced when the mind starts portraying the social events as a danger which the body needs to be wary of.
The lead vocalist of Years & Years, Olly Alexander, in his song 'Don't panic,' talked about his struggle with anxiety. He used the following lyrics to describe the physical symptoms associated with it:
And I can't sleep, no dreaming My heart accelerates A thousand words are screaming I can't communicate I gotta beat this feeling My body won't obey
As the song proceeds, other lines such as "chest tight," "lights too bright," "too loud thundering sound," and "cold sweat I'm at the edge" were used to emphasize how terrible he felt.
Shawn Mendes talked about his longtime struggle with anxiety as well in his songs 'In my blood' and 'Hold on.' However, his songs focused more on how to get help and rely on your family during episodes, and the courage needed not to give up your fight against it. Interestingly, both artists advise to exhale and inhale deeply to alleviate the panic attacks.
The image below is used to demonstrate symptoms and methods to avoid them in public:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
There is a problem, however, as to how society generally views social anxiety. More often than not, friends or even family members are unaware of the gravity which social anxiety poses on a person's psyche that they end up bullying and verbally abusing the person suffering from it. Such cases may lead to more serious issues like clinical depression and suicidal thoughts.
Hence, it will be beneficial if we try to cooperate with people suffering from social anxiety. To be sure, they need a friendly environment that fosters trust to help them interact normally with others. In the end, it always pays to be kind to people, as we do not know what obstacles they conquered to face and get over their social anxiety. If you are one of the people suffering from social anxiety, we suggest that you consult medical and professional help as well.
I hope my article was educative and entertaining and always take into account that we should never be ashamed of our flaws.
○○───○○───○○○───○○───○○
Sources:
Shawn Mendes- In my blood Shawn Mendes- Hold on Years & Years- Don't panic Personal experiences with bullying and Social anxiety
