My psychiatrist sure has a lot to say in fifteen minutes. He thinks I need to get out more, to put it mildly. Don't get me wrong, I totally dig my doctor, but I think he thinks I have way more potential than I actually do, unless of course I am manic! So, I have a little bit of social anxiety along with some regular anxiety, but mostly social.
Normally the only thing I do during the week is go to the DBSA meetings (www.dbsalliance.org). Last night I decided to go to an anxiety meeting that had been recommended to me. Not exactly a social event, but I thought it might give me some pointers.
It was a small group, only five people and two facilitators. We spent about twenty minutes doing a relaxation exercise and then we talked about various things that were making us anxious. I'll only talk about my own social anxiety because you are not supposed to talk about other people's stuff outside of group therapy. Makes sense, no?
They asked me what made me anxious and basically it's because I either don't know what to say to people or I'm afraid I'll inadvertantly become the life of the party through alcohol. I'm not so good at small talk. Plus, I'm in quite a conundrum because I'm in the middle of a long-time move to another city and so I don't really want to make new friends where I currently live, nor do I have the ability to make new friends in the new city because I'm not really there often enough yet.
With that aside, one site I have found extremely helpful in finding things to do, although not necessarily getting me out the door to do them is www.meetup.com . You can find all sorts of people doing all sorts of things you might be interested in. I belong to a couple of singles groups, hiking groups, and a book club. There's all kinds of outdoor sporting events and indoor cooking events and people who just like to play board games. It's really an awesome sight.
For me, the hardest thing to do is go to a social event for the first time. Once I know some of the people it gets easier and easier. Therefore, for me, I'm going to look into joining classes at the community center in my new town and possibly at the community college. In that way, I'll be obligated to meet the same people over and over again. I'm also a bowler, so I will probably join a bowling league for the winter season as well.
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