Testimony of Healing October 31, 2016 Issue

Freed from social anxiety

Lisa Andrews

For a number of years through my teens and early twenties, I struggled with shyness and social anxiety. I worried that my peers didn’t like me, and I didn’t want to call attention to myself. The reality was that there were plenty of people expressing kindness toward me and interest in me, but often the anxious thoughts clouded my perspective. Despite making some lovely, lasting friends during those years, my sense of self-worth remained low.

There seemed to be two versions of myself: the joyful “me” who loved laughing with others and took part in theater and music performances, and the subdued, quiet “me” who hid in the corner at many social events and envied others’ apparent popularity. The constant fear of being judged weighed heavily on me and affected my experiences. With caring encouragement from family, friends, and many others, I was finally able to see that anxious, self-involved thoughts were not really a part of me, and they had to go.

I grew up going to a Christian Science Sunday School and attending a summer camp for Christian Scientists, so I was learning to turn to God in prayer when faced with challenges. My prayers to address the shyness were sincere, though it took me a long time to understand that anxiety was never actually included in my true identity, which was created by God.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

‘No ugliness in my expression’