The pounding heart. The burning face. The feeling that all eyes are glued on you, judging the way you walk and the way you’re dressed, staring at that one pimple that decided to purchase real estate on your chin. Social anxiety, in a word, sucks. It makes crowds nauseating and human interaction downright painful.
Our instinct is to avoid situations that put us into contact with these things–but sometimes, being around other people is inevitable. Take the gym for instance. The gym is great: tons of opportunities for cardio, muscle building, and all the exercises your wee heart could ever desire, but with one glaring fault: people. The gym is busy. The gym is full of muscle-y, fit people who can run at 100 mph and benchpress a baby elephant. You see these Olympian athletes and a voice in your head starts to say, “I don’t belong here. I don’t know what I’m doing. People are going to laugh at me.” So how do you get around that annoying little voice? Sure, you could carefully map out a schedule and pinpoint the times of day when the gym is most devoid of people, but I’m here to tell you that that is not necessary. As someone with social anxiety, here is what I have to tell myself every time I venture into the gym, a place that a couple years ago was on my “Don’t Go Here Ever” list:
1. You are not the only one there who feels anxious. You might be surprised at the number of gym-goers who are suffering from anxiety. In fact, you’re probably scaring them as much as they’re scaring you. Their hearts are going a mile a minute and they’re most likely desperately praying that you won’t go over to them and try to strike up a conversation. You are not the only one feeling the way you do.
2. Everyone is too focused on themselves to pay attention to what you’re doing. This could actually work as a general rule, but at the gym, in particular, no one is paying any attention to what you’re doing. They aren’t critiquing your workout routine or laughing at your weight. They aren’t noticing your sweat stains or your choice of workout clothes; they aren’t looking at how hard you’re breathing or how intensely you’re exercising. They aren’t noticing any of that because they are completely zeroed in on themselves. The gym is where you go to work on yourself, not on other people.
3. People don’t care if you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t have to sprint on the treadmill. You don’t have to be gasping on the floor, drenched in sweat at the end of your workout. You can go at your own pace, and no one will judge you for that. Honestly, the people that do break out of their bubble long enough to notice you will just give you props for being at the gym at all. You’re working to better yourself, and people respect that.
Anxiety makes every day a trial, but don’t let it stop you from doing what you want. If you want to go to the gym, do it. Don’t let your anxiety or anything else hold you back. It should never stand in the way of you and your goals, and it should never prevent you from becoming exactly the person you want to be.