 Oh wow. This is Russ. Russie. How are you? Say hi. Are you camera shy? Say hi to everyone. Hi everyone, my name is Scott. Welcome to Depression 2 Expression. Today we're talking about social anxiety. Hot topic. Where should I start? I started with Russ. You know, it's completely natural as human beings to want to be liked by other people. No one likes to be disliked. No one likes to be ignored, not paid attention to or hated. It's completely natural. And what may cause you anxiety and what has caused me anxiety in the past is, and I've said this in other videos, not being yourself. And just hold on a couple minutes. I want to explain this further. When we are in social situations around other individuals, we may want to be liked by them. Natural, right? So we may become someone we're not completely comfortable with, someone different, we may become a character. And what may cause us anxiety is, we're afraid to break character. Think of an actor, right? They're in this character. What happens when they screw up? Well, we'll just shoot another scene, cut, redo. Well, if you're breaking character and you're in this situation with all these other people, you really can't. That may cause you some anxiety. So what I'm challenging you to do, I'm inviting you to do is, before you go into this situation, and even while you're in it, keep reminding yourself that I can be me. It may sound stupid to a lot of you, it's helped me in the past. Remind yourself, I can be me. I don't have to be anyone else. I don't have to impress anyone. I don't have to be liked by everyone. All I have to do is be me. Sound simple? Sound dumb? Well, take it or leave it, bitch. So that's one thing you can try. Now before you go out to a party, a work gathering, maybe a family event or get together, what is, you know, practiced and taught when it really comes to psychology and mental health is this thing called visualization. Where you kind of close your eyes and picture yourself in this room or in this gathering and picture yourself being great. Visualize yourself saying hi to people, smiling, being your complete self. That's one thing you can do by closing your eyes. Another thing I'd like you to try, if you don't mind, if you have the time, if you suffer from social anxiety is, this is a decent sized room. If you're in a room alone, at home, in your apartment, at a parent's house, wherever you live, go into a room alone and practice completely alone. Visualize, use that beautiful imagination because you're all creative people. Visualize a few people within the room with you altogether. Visualize saying hi. This person's over here. Be yourself. Maybe introduce yourself. I know there's no one there. I know if someone walked into this room you'd look like a complete nut. Hello, my name is Sam. Hi, nice to meet you. I know no one would walk in on you. Please don't let anyone walk in on you. But give it a try. Practice being you. Visualize yourself being comfortable in this visualization setting. If nothing's worked for you so far, why not give this a try? People say, you know, I suffer from social anxiety. I've tried everything and nothing works. No, you haven't, man. No, you haven't. There are millions of things you can try. You can spend your whole lifetime doing new things, trying new things. And that's the fun of it. So I'd like you to try visualization, okay? In a room with your eyes closed, eyes open. And number two, say to yourself, I can be me. I don't have to be anyone else. I can be myself right now. Give it a try. Thank you for watching.