Perception Struggles

korsicash

What is your biggest self perception issue you are trying to deal with? Mine is while I know I have done well I still don't see it as enough. I am more critical of size 8 me than I was of size 14/16 me. Working out those head games for myself. What are you working on and how do you do it?

wingsandgills

Perception is a huge thing I'm working on, little bits at a time.

I have a bit of social anxiety, and it causes me to resist social events with friends and get really agitated in public areas with a lot of people. It's because I catch people glancing at me--and for all I know they're just looking around and happen to be looking at me--and I decide they're judging me and being disgusted by me. I know this is irrational, so I try to be aware of these feelings, voice them in my inner dialogue, and then counter them. "I feel really uncomfortable because I think people are judging me. I rarely look at and judge others, so it's unlikely that they're doing that to me. At any rate, I'm here to have fun with my friends, who I KNOW like me, and not to worry about strangers. Forget it and have fun!"

Repeatedly doing this as needed seems to be helping me change how I think about things. I'm also using affirmations (repeating positive phrases to myself) and that helps my mood a bit. Whether it's me playing mind games with myself or actually doing something good, it's helping my mood. ;P