A Spiritual Look at Social Anxiety
Social anxiety exists for most of us on different levels. Some suffer from mild forms of social anxiety and others find it debilitating to the point where they may avoid going out or interacting with certain individuals.
No matter what level of social anxiety occurs for you, it usually stems from the same place- fear of seeing and honoring a part of yourself.
In Astrology, there are two factors that actually determine your personality. One is the core of who you are, your Sun sign, which is determined by the date of your birth.
This is the sign that most of us will identify with and read when we are looking for our horoscopes in the daily paper.
However, there is another sign, a Rising Sign that also determines your personality and is indicated by the time of your birth.
This explains why no two Sun Signs are ever alike- we are all a blend of both our Rising and Sun Signs.
Your Rising Sign is actually the mask you present to the world, the ‘outside’ you that you show people before they truly get to know you.?
In most social situations, especially when we are not a hundred percent comfortable, we are projecting our Rising Sign or our ‘mask’ for protection.
Of course, this need for protection is usually subconscious and is there to make us feel comfortable about interacting with certain individuals and ultimately, being seen.
This mask usually allows us to present the way we wish to be seen, either as funny, smart, dumb, successful etc.
Everyone has a mask and while it is necessary to use it in some situations, if you find yourself constantly needing to wear it, it’s no surprise that you are going to start feeling anxious.
This is because wearing a mask takes some serious effort! There is a lot of planning, thinking and hiding involved so it is only natural that anxiety would occur.
This may also explain why most people with social anxiety have high IQ levels, as it takes a lot of brain power to continually use a mask.
If you constantly find yourself feeling tired or headachey when you are socially interacting, withdrawn or anxious, chances are you are just feeling the exhaustion that comes from hiding who you truly are and not being your authentic self.
Besides feeling miserable, social anxiety also makes it harder to build a genuine friendship or relationship.
When you truly step into your authentic self it is easy. But when you hide from yourself and the truth of who you are, things start to become more complicated.
So why do we complicate things? Why do we feel the need to wear a mask?
Chances are you are on the run from your own thoughts and feelings. Chances are, you are hiding a part of yourself that for whatever reason you do not feel worthy, confident of or comfortable enough to share.
Many who were bullied or felt as if they never fit in during their childhood years may also carry social anxiety into their later adulthood.
If you are suffering from social anxiety, try looking deeper and see if there is something you are afraid of showing the world.
Try confronting the ‘flaws’ that you are hiding and start accepting them instead. Focus on making a deeper connection to your soul and to your truth and loving yourself for who you are.
It may also help to remember that people are going to see in you what they are going to see, no amount of hiding or pretending is going to stop that, so you might as well start being proud of yourself, start feeling worthy and drop the mask- it never really serves you anyway.
