How to Stop Conducting a Postmortem After Every Conversation
Social Anxiety is Usually a Liar Social anxiety has a sneaky second act: what happens after people go home. There they are, back in their own space, shoes off, bra off, soft pants on, and the brain says, Wonderful. Now let us review everything you did wrong. I’m at a professional training with a small group of therapists. The material is incredibly inspirational and will have an enormous impact on my practice. The group of women assembled here is extraordinary: kind, brilliant, warm, accepting, and everything a shy human could hope for in re-entering professional socialization. I haven’t been to an in-person training like this since before Covid, and being here has reminded me how quickly the mind can turn a perfectly ordinary human interaction into a forensic investigation. Every evening, as I go back to my room, a little litany of the awkward things I said or questions I asked comes flooding back. The little one in me, so clearly hungry for acceptance and validation, gets...
