Dealing with Anxiety in New Environments

"Exposure therapy can be quite helpful. Build up your tolerance to being out and around people. Try interacting with family/friends/people you're comfortable with more often then you do. Then maybe try going to a park or area that you can just sit and people watch for a while and let yourself get comfortable and used to the space while taking nice deep breaths. Also, having someone who you are really comfortable with go with you to more crowded places can help. Another method is to create a safe space in your room or home to go to when experiencing anxiety. Carry a fidget of some kind that you use to calm your anxiety. Some mind tricks include checking in on all your senses. This can be done in any environment that you are experiencing anxiety in. Take a step away from everything and just give yourself a moment to identify 5 different things you can see, hear, smell etc. This can help ground you in the present! Another thing that helps is looking around your environment and identifying all the objects that are red, orange, yellow etc."