If you’re feeling like your social skills have gotten a little rusty during the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not alone. As social distancing restrictions loosen and more people become fully vaccinated, social anxiety is increasingly common — and totally normal.
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Clinical psychologist Dawn Potter, PsyD, shares practical advice for those feeling nervous about a return to relative normalcy after spending the last year in quarantine, communicating with others through a screen or from behind a face mask.
Q: Is anxiety typical after being isolated for so long?
A: Absolutely. As social distancing restrictions loosen, it’s normal to feel some nervousness or anxiety, especially if you’ve been relatively isolated or in a small bubble during the pandemic and are now starting to socialize in larger groups or with people you haven’t seen for a while.
In addition to standard concerns about health and safety, people with social anxiety are likely to be worried about doing things “right” — messing up social norms by making a misstep or not knowing what to do. They may stress about questions like, “Am I supposed to hug this person? Should I shake their hand or do an elbow bump? How close should I stand?”
Q: What, exactly, does it mean to have social anxiety?
A: Just like it sounds, the term refers to the experience of anxiety in a social context. But it’s more than just feeling a little bit nervous. People with social anxiety often feel like others are laughing at them or judging them, even if that’s not the case.
If you have social anxiety disorder, you may worry that you’re going to trip over your words or that other people will notice how nervous you’re feeling — or that you’re blushing or sweating, even if you aren’t. These concerns can be limited to certain settings, like public speaking, or they can apply to any social situations with other people, especially unfamiliar ones.
There’s a lot going on in the mind of a person with social anxiety, which can be distracting and make it difficult for them to actually engage effectively in a social situation.
Q: How can we reestablish healthy in-person conversation practices?
A: You may find it physically and emotionally exhausting to relearn all those little social graces that you haven’t actively practiced during the pandemic. Just try to be kind to yourself throughout the process.
Remember that we’re all getting used to certain conversational elements, including tone of voice, not interrupting and taking a breath before speaking. Our comfort level with those practices will likely come back pretty quickly once we get used to them.
And try …….