The Anxiety Guru Show: The Looking Glass Ep 6

by Paul Dooley

The Anxiety Guru Show: The Looking Glass Ep 6

Show Notes

With anxiety disorders comes a loss of confidence.

It is difficult for you to make decisions sometimes since you think one decision sounds great one minute and the very next second your on to something else totally different.

You may think that because you have lost most or all of your confidence that you are a coward or defective. This of course is not the case at all.

This may also lead to you challenging yourself to a test of “strength” and will. You go and do things that you may not be ready for – but when you do these things it can be very painful. Patience is key for this particular problem. You have to give your self the time you need to heal. All wounds take time to heal and anxiety disorder is no exception to this rule.

You fear the criticism of others to a large degree and may avoid certain situations to avoid any ridicule or scrutiny.
The Anxiety Looking game blog entry – comments on the belief that everyone is staring at you.
The criticism you fear may be in fact less intense than you imagine.
You are very open to suggestions. Side note on personal experience with meditation tapes.
Loss of confidence is normal under the circumstances.
Rebuild your confidence by acknowledging to yourself that you are not crazy or defective.
Be aware of how you speak to people, look at people, even your posture effects how you feel about you.
The looking glass self: a social theory created by sociologist Charles Horton Cooley in 1902.

1. We imagine how we must appear to others.

2. We imagine the judgment of the appearance.

3. We develop our self through the judgments of others

The looking glass self is of course not all encompassing , but this is a good framework for understanding you in a social context – after all humans are terribly social and almost everything we do depends on someone else.

Closing thoughts

Music:

Vegetation: Each One Feel It
George Wood Achievement Unlocked

Maximum Confidence: Ten Secrets of Extreme Self-Esteem