Career with social anxiety?

Question

I’m feeling really hopeless. I have severe social anxiety... I just want to know: is it possible to have a career with social anxiety? I am already 20 and I’ve never even had a job pretty much out of terror I guess. Obviously in this world, communication is essential but I can’t even do that. I don’t know what to do... my dad would never let me get therapy. There’s a therapist at my college but I’m even too afraid to see them. And I don’t have any friends so I can’t ask them... I know I can’t help my social anxiety by myself but I’m literally just so scared of everything.... 😰

Answer

Same age, same for me.. I desperately need money and I know people judge me but I just can’t do it.. i think it is possibly to find some nonsocial jobs though

Answer

It’s hard when anxiety makes you too anxious to seek help. Even though my parents would have been open to me seeking therapy as a teenager I was too scared to reach out. With the right medications I’ve been able to successfully work at multiple jobs and have found the anxiety is usually the worst at the beginning but after I get more comfortable with coworkers it does get easier—I’ve also found it helpful to be upfront with my bosses and coworkers about my anxiety and surprisingly I’ve never encountered anything but support. I’m proud that despite my anxiety I have managed to move on towards getting my grad degree in school counseling to hopefully help young people that struggled like I did but we’re too afraid to reach out.
At your college are you able to participate in classes?

Answer

Honestly the only reason I have a job is because I eventually sucked it up and visited the on-campus counseling center at college. I was terrified, it took months, I walked by it every day and wished I had the courage. One day I finally did it, met a wonderful counselor who worked with the psychiatrist and with therapy and anti-anxiety meds I was able to get a job... as a cashier at a gas station no less so lots of customer service and some days sucked so bad but most were kinda good. Never wanted a career with social interaction, though. Now I’m a medical coder, work from home, rarely talk to anybody, it’s wonderful. My sisters have social anxiety too, a couple of them worked at a pet kennel when they were younger, before they too went to therapy and started meds, they liked working with the dogs and cats, they rarely had to work with humans.

Answer

The first and most important step is to speak with a therapist, I know it may be hard to ask for help but if you really need it you should go. Their job is to help people like yourself and I promise they won’t judge.
I suffered with social anxiety for many years growing up and still do, I got my first job at 16 and throughout my time working it got easier and easier to communicate with customers and coworkers. I still tend to shy away from social situations, but I’m a lot better at communicating with people. Now I’m a stay at home mom and I’m going back to school to be a dental assistant which is causing me a lot of anxiety. I didn’t even see a therapist until a few years ago after having a heightened sense of anxiety after having my daughter. I honestly wish I would have seen one sooner.

Answer

Same age. Same boat. I'm ready to suck it up and just go for it, but my car has been broke and my S/O has been trying to sace money to fix it. So when my car is fixed, that's the moment of truth for me.

Career with social anxiety?

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