Living with Social Anxiety During Covid

breathing exercises! I had covid in 2021 for 6 weeks! Have lupus. ANYWAY.. you have to strengthen your lungs! I would almost pass out all the time now my lungs are strong again... start slow! If you over due it you will pass out! Count how many seconds you currently take a breath in and how many seconds you currently take a breath out... like mine right now is 6 seconds breathing in. And 12 seconds out! I started at 2 seconds in and 4 seconds out! Once a week go up 1 number in and 1 number out.

Yes! My social anxiety has definitely gotten worse since the pandemic.

I am the same way as well I went to college worked in an office, always shopped and went out. I have health issues from Long Covid which includes high heart rate and fainting so a big part of it is fear for me when leaving the house and another part is that I have no energy and severe anxiety while driving or being in a store. I do keep pushing myself and have been starting out small like shopping close to home or only running a small errand. I always thought that Long Covid increased my anxiety but it definitely could just be all of it the pandemic as a whole and staying inside for a long period of time.

Yes.... it recently got worse. Prob due to covid i guess?

I’ve felt a lot of anxiety about being out in public since covid, not actually because of covid but because a lot of people take it less seriously than I do. I still wear an n95 and a good cloth mask on top of it if I have to be in public, but seeing people without a mask and hearing people act like nothing is different makes me feel a lot of extremely upsetting emotions. One thing I have found that helps is to at least take a daily walk. Even if it’s just around a block, being in the fresh air does help me and coming back knowing that ‘the outside’ isn’t dangerous helps me too. Nobody is alone in the physical and emotional toll the pandemic has taken on us, which differs person to person. Even if we lean on or believe in different things, we are all human and if the past couple of years has not impacted someone… I would honestly be worried about that person. Wishing everyone the best!

Yes! It's normal. Emotions are a normal human thing. Just start with baby steps! That's what helps me! Start going to places that don't spike it. Build up slowly each week. Use walmart last on that list. Build your confidence. Once you get good at it then in the same day go to like 5 different places in 1 day from no panic to walmart watch the improvements!

Definitely, I never leave my house and don’t want to.