Dear reader,
Welcome to Road to Healing from social anxiety. Before we start, I’d like to emphasize on the
importance of following the healing plan fully. Please do not underestimate any of the below steps. Also,
make sure you understand that healing and coming out of social anxiety is a journey and not a quick fix.
But, don’t let that keep you down because you will start noticing results as you start.
Our actionable plan is divided into categories:
1- Lifestyle changes
2- Food & Nutrition
3- Supplementation
4- Reprocessing blocked memories.
5- Exposure Therapy
1- Lifestyle:
The more active you are, the less likely the amygdala “Fight or flight response” is to be active.
Therefore, when the amygdala is not active, it shrinks!
✓ Start off your day by journaling. Bring a notebook and first write down the things that upset you
in order to release these negative emotions. Second, write down how you want your day to go,
what are the things that you want to do, and how do you want to feel today. Note be specific
and expressive in your writing and write it in journal mode. For example, “my plan is to go for a
nice walk in the morning. I’m looking forward to enjoying the sunny light and lovely weather. I
would like to feel happy and focused today”.
✓ Be active, do the stuff that you really want to do, and choose what you want to do and what you
don’t want to. Move with intention and with a purpose. Don’t let the day run you, instead, you
run the day with your intention and affirmation to do what you want. Keep yourself busy doing
productive activities during the day.
✓ Second, aerobic exercise (Basically exercises that include fast movements like jogging, cycling,
swimming, or even playing sports like football or tennis). Don’t do it too much, make sure you
exercise in easy mode and stop once you get tired.
✓ Do breathing exercises every now and then. You can choose between different breathing
techniques. One I would recommend is the WIM HOF method. Find below a video that show the
technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ. This exercise to be done when
you are alone.
✓ Always think and take a breath when talking to people. Sometimes when you think a lot of social
anxiety you forget to breathe and your body takes shallow breaths at that moment. So, think
about it and take deep nice breaths, just normal deep ones not the WIM HOF method kind of
breaths.
2- Food & Nutrition:
✓ “You are what you eat” it’s very important to start eating healthy. The food you eat is what your
body and mind use to create brain hormones like serotonin and dopamine which make you feel
happy and confident. Don’t push yourself and go extreme. But, try to avoid fast and artificial
food. Also, stay away from sodas like Pepsi and the others as they contain a lot of artificial sugar
which has a negative effect on the brain.
✓ Try to cut down on Carbohydrates, and increase the intake of fibers in your food.
✓ Include anti-oxidants in your day. For example, start drinking herbs like green tea, and add
Cinnamon, and Curcumin to your drinks or food. Anti-oxidants/Anti-Inflammatory can help fight
depression and in turns it helps reduce your anxiety.
✓ Include healthy snack to your daily food. For example, nuts, almonds, and pistachio. Also, if you
can get pumpkin seeds with or without skin they can help a lot as they contain tryptophan
which is used to produce serotonin that makes you feel relaxed and optimistic.
✓ Drink enough water during the day. Make sure you are hydrated when talking to people.
3- Supplementation:
Supplements are natural concentrated nutrients that are very helpful in terms of supporting your
body and brain in the process of generating resources that you need to aid process of feeling happy
and confident. Many of the following nutrients have a clear link to brain health, including: omega-3s,
B vitamins (particularly folate and B12), choline, iron, zinc, magnesium, S-adenosyl methionine
(SAMe), vitamin D, and amino acids such as GABA, Tryptophan, Glutamine, and Tyrosine.
4- Reprocessing blocked memories.
A lot of the anxiety comes from the way the mindset is set. Past experiences influence our way of
thinking and create this mindset. Therefore, working on reprocessing bad memories from the past is
crucial in the process of eliminating anxiety, depression, and social anxiety. Many different techniques
can be used such as EFT / EMDR / Somatic Experiencing, psychotherapy, and positive social connection
depending on the intensity of the memory or experience. Some of the techniques can be done solely by
the client while others are preferred to be done with a specialist.
5- Exposure Therapy.
The process of exposing yourself to social situations slowly is a must while working on social anxiety. You
can start with situations that are easy and then move slowly to more intense situations.
✓ Rank social situations from 1 to 10. 1 is a very easy social situation to you and 10 is extremely
difficult. Move slowly and take your time. However, it’s very important to have an intention to
do it and follow a plan from 1 to 10. Exposure is very necessary and everyone should do it in
order to beat social anxiety.
And finally, love yourself for who you are and for what you are doing for yourself to become a better
version of yourself. Self-affirmations are important added-value practices that should be done on a daily
basis.
Examples are:
I accept myself for who I am right now. I accept myself just the way I am at this moment of time. I am a
human being and there are parts of my life I’m improving. There are parts of my life that need to fade
away. However, this does not change the inner “me”. By accepting myself I am opening the door to
healing. Hence, I relax. I take a deep breath and calmly relax. I am enough. I accept myself, my ups and
downs, because the more I accept, the stronger I become. Acceptance is a powerful process. When I
accept myself, I have opened the door for a better me. I can sense a healing power flowing into my life.
I’m learning to change and grow