Hello!
Social skills can be complicated but there are ways to improve the struggle and talk with others without feeling anxiety, fear, or concern about what you will say. As a therapist, I have seen people struggle with social skills, especially since the COVID lockdown. It has made interacting with others difficult because we were used to spending time alone and in isolation.
The first thing I would want to review is where the difficulty starts for you about the communication and social skills piece. Is it coming from social anxiety, lack of confidence or self-esteem, or struggling to find the right group of people to build friendships with?
Social Anxiety has been very common in the last several years and often comes from our internal thoughts and irrational fears talking more in our minds and restricts what we say. We would want to write down those internal thoughts or fears and put them on trial. Is there evidence that these thoughts or fears are true? If evidence is lacking, then we need to see the thoughts from a different perspective and replace them with truth and reality. All these steps can be done through therapy work together!
Confidence and self-esteem can be the other thing that is lacking when we try to formulate conversations with others and try to build upon relationships. Together, we can process the concerns that are present and come up with exposure opportunities to build the confidence and boost self-esteem in a safe way.
Lastly, we want to really make sure that you are putting yourself in all the right scenarios to make those friendships. Who are you trying to talk with? Who are you trying to build friendships with? We want to set you up for success and that may start with finding groups of people who share the same interests as you. Knowing that you share things in common can make the communications easier and allow you to feel confident in what you are sharing.
Internally, we all can build connections through communication, but our internal thoughts can get in the way and that is where the healing starts. Let’s grow outside of the mind and give ourselves the boost we need to chase those dreams and friendships we are yearning for.
