Have you lost your social mojo? Begun feeling stressed and anxious at the thought of meeting people again, even though they might be your closest friends?
Have you felt calmer and more relaxed during the past 18 months than you can remember because no-one has been expecting you to have a social life, talk to your work colleagues, or mix with new people? You have been totally happy curled up with Netflix every evening!
Perhaps you were ok about going out and socialising pre-pandemic. Maybe you would worry a little about a party where you only knew a few people, or perhaps you avoided work social events in case you had to talk to someone you didn’t know, but you could relatively comfortably muddle along. Now though, the thought of getting back into social situations fills you with dread. And perhaps you are wondering why? Why have you totally lost your social skills?
Our social skills, like many others, need regular practise or they become rusty. When we aren’t regularly flexing our social muscles, they become stiff and weak and it takes much more effort to get them moving again. When we haven’t spoken to people socially for many months, we wonder how we can ever do it again!
Or perhaps you always hated socialising. Perhaps you are someone who dreaded Friday night drinks after work and always ducked out of it. Perhaps you pleaded prior commitment when invited to a party. You were that timid little mouse sitting quietly in the corner when really you want to be the one dancing on the table! On the other hand, maybe the idea of socialising fills you with dread but you want to get over this hurdle because you want to start living a full and active life?
There are many ways in which hypnotherapy can help someone to overcome issues with social anxiety, at whatever level. In hypnosis, we can practise the situations that cause that feelings of dread, we can learn skills that will help us to focus our attention outwards, rather than back in on ourselves and our perceived faults and failures. Often social situations make people feel anxious because they predict that they will be judged negatively and we can learn tools to change the way we think into a more helpful habit.
If you are someone who fears embarrassment, perhaps because you blush easily or worry that you can’t think of anything to say then hypnosis can help you to overcome these fears and learn new habits and behaviour.
When you see a hypnotherapist you will also learn different ways of relaxation to combat stress and anxiety. Using your imagination to focus on this relaxed feeling can help someone to tackle all kinds of stressful situations.
Lack of practise also leads to a loss of confidence in ourselves, and this applies to our ability to socialise as much as to any other skill. Hypnosis can help to boost confidence and self-esteem, to help you to feel ready to take on the challenge of socialising again and perhaps even help you to tackle something you always wanted to try but never had the nerve.
So, whether you are someone who just feels in need of a boost to their self-esteem and confidence to get back to their pre-pandemic self, or if socialising has always caused you stress and anxiety, then hypnosis can help you to build your confidence, learn new ways of behaving and learn to let everyone see what a smart and fun person you really are!
Get in touch and we can talk about how hypnosis could help you.
