Social anxiety? Uni, work, life

[EmeraldEmphasis]

Hey,

I decided to create an account on here to share what I am going through. I am 19, studying at university and unemployed. I would like to start off by saying, I openly acknowledge I suffer pretty servere issues relating to socialising. I have always been a shy/quite person, but however since no longer being in highschool and having the obligations to leave the house and socialise I avoid it every chance I get (as uni is more laid back, and my parents to feel obligation to encourage me to attend). This has resulted in me decieding to change from on campus studying to online, however I am failing. This is due in part to feeling too anxious to attend the on campus exams and inform uni that I am suffering with this issue. I used to love standing out when I was younger through my individual clothing and style, however now the thought of people looking at me makes me sweat and increadibly anxious. Strangly, when I have been going into stores applying for jobs I have no anxiety, I am unsure as to why this is especially because I struggle talking to family members sometimes. I want to get a job to give me something to leave the house for, gain interactions and experiences. However, most of the jobs I apply for in store say they only take online applications...which never get a response. I want to get full time work so that I can have a break from uni, but nothing has come my way. I know people say getting a job can be easier due to asking people you know, no one I know is in a position or knows of someone seeking an employee which makes me ask the question, how else am I suppose to get work? I want to get a job as soon as possible as I am worried that the longer I do the longer I will have to over analyse and become anxious about the socialising aspects of working.

There is more I could go into about my social anxiety but I feel like this is a good place to start.

Thanks for listening ☺

[Hope_for_the_best]

Thanks for sharing. It is worth thinking about what makes you anxious about socialisation. The fear of being rejected/judged? It is good that you realise you have an issue and I would suggest that you seek counselling for that. You still get a lot of chances to socialise even if you work full-time, so it is best to sort that out and not let that influence your life.

Wish you all the best.

[james1]

Hey EmeraldEmphasis,

Welcome to the forums! It is wonderful to hear the honesty in your post. It can often be very difficult to do that with strangers but you've written a wonderful post.

It sounds like there's a few things but you're trying to focus on the work aspect of life and how to manage your social anxiety with that.

I think it might be worth having a think about why you want to work full time instead of continue with uni. Uni sounds really tough for you with the anxiety. This is really only something you can decide for yourself, but perhaps this is actually one of those challenges in life which could be really rewarding to take on.

You sound like a pretty driven person and I wonder if, with the right support, you'd be able to attend the uni exams and lectures? Uni's often have counsellors who are really good with this kind of thing - do you have any friends who could help you make and go to an appointment with one of them?

Of course, if you think that uni at the moment is a bit much, job searching does tend to take a while. Without a degree or significant past experience, it can be pretty difficult to find something full time. Perhaps starting off part time in a few jobs with the aim of increasing to full time within a year could be the way to go? That way you can bank some experience and some money at the same time.

James

[Mia001]

Hi Emerald Emphasis,

Wow! That's an incredible first post. Good on you for having the courage to share so much!

In regards to online applications.... they can be tricky. They're checked by a system which looks for keywords in your resume. S so you might want to use keywords from the job description or relevant to the industry. Using a basic font and simple text format (not PDF) helps too.

Hope this is useful 🙂

Mia