Wellbutrin

Calculating the number of hours I had left on Earth, and realizing that every hour I spent fretting about shit that doesn’t matter is an hour I won’t spend having the best possible time on this dirtball with my family and my friends before I kick the bucket.

Once I “let go” and decided nothing really mattered, it felt like my whole body finally deeply relaxed for good.

Getting friends lol

A combination of therapy and meds.

By going out and being social. For me the issue isn’t anything more than self doubt and overthinking dumb stuff that others don’t actually care about. Head empty, go places.

Making a fool of myself on purpose and laughing along. Karaoke bars, stand-up comedy open mic nights, improv theater.

It helps you see that people can’t really see behind each other’s “mask” all that well. All confidence is made up, so play along and it just sort of materializes.

Another way to do that is to try and become fluent in a new language. You build a different persona for each language you use, so might as well become confident in the new one on purpose.

Practicing loving-kindness meditation and trying to find an interest in the lives of others. When you feel a genuine interest in learning about the lives of the people you meet and are not worrying about your own self-image, people are less scary and easier to talk to.

I used to be afraid of people thinking less of me for asking stupid questions, but now I don’t care so much about what they think about me. I come from a mindset of compassion rather than fear. It turns out that people generally prefer dumb but interested over insecurity.

Pills… too many damn pills…

Not caring. When I was younger I used to stress out because I was concerned about peoples opinions, not fitting in, or doing something stupid and giving others the wrong impressions of me. As a result I came off as shy until I got comfortable around someone. (Then you couldn’t shut me up). Now as I’m getting older, I really don’t care much about some random persons opinion and will often talk to anyone I run into. (Even if it’s just a simple “Hello,” or “How’s it going?” It’s like we all have a little social egg shell around us sometimes that needs a tap or two to crack open. As an aside, you will meet some pretty interesting people too.)

And at the end of the day, it’s what YOU think of you that matters, no one else. Just be the best you that you can be, and don’t fret the little things. If someone doesn’t like you for that, it’s their loss and they’re missing out on all your gloriousness.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

Restricting news. I look at CBC and BBC and that’s all. I feel like most other news sites try to increase anxiety.

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Moving to a walkable city. Turns out I just hate cars and I hated the fact that I had to drive to have any sort of social gathering.

SNRIs, getting older, and being much more selective about the fucks I give.

Benzodiazepines. Which is why I don’t eat them anymore.