I often seek advice on how to overcome my social anxiety and low self-esteem, and I always hear the same phrase: No one is laughing at you; people don’t have time to judge you, it’s all in your head. But the truth is, I have experienced people laughing and pointing at me in public, which makes me feel like everyone is thinking negatively about me. It reinforces my beliefs that I'm weird, awkward, and unable to function in society.

This thought pattern is difficult to break. Every time I'm judged or made fun of, my mind uses it as evidence to support my social anxiety. I tell myself, see? They can tell you’re nervous, shy, and weird. Why do you even leave your house?

It's challenging to overcome these negative thoughts, but I know I need to try. I remind myself that not everyone is judging me, and that it's okay to make mistakes and be vulnerable. I try to challenge my negative thoughts and replace them with more positive and realistic ones. Maybe you can suggest some effective exercises to better control my thoughts.

hello, my question is in the topic.

A little backstory. I’m 18 and I’ve been interested in girls since 14. I grew up in a small town, my family are very religious. My first kiss was with a boy, I simply didn’t dare to approach a girl. I dated a guy for a couple of years, then when we finally broke up and I stayed single for a while, I rediscovered my interest in women, and I met Mary. She’s absolutely gorgeous, three years older than me and has always been lesbian. When we started dating, it was like I was finally myself. The emotions were incredible, like I’ve never felt before. However, when we started being intimate, every time we tried, my mind froze, panicking. My partner is openly sexual and has no taboos. I am the opposite. I’m extremely anxious and shy about it. The few times I was able to cope with my anxiety, I acted very quickly and was unable to relax. Every time I’m unprepared or feel like we will be seen, I reject her out of anxiety, and then feel ashamed and guilty about it. Therapy was not helpful. I’m desperate. I don’t want my partner to think I’m disinterested and break up with me. Please share any wisdom you have

I have a problem with a guy in my class. He has taken a dislike to me for no apparent reason and keeps hitting me, like slapping me in the back of the head or in the face. I wouldn't say he's a full-blown bully because he never punches me, but the constant slapping is really annoying. Due to his actions, I now experience anxiety and always feel like I have to look over my shoulder, even when I know he's not there. Every time he comes near me or touches me, I have panic attacks and start shaking, which is silly because I am a boxer.

This situation is new to me and I need help figuring out how to overcome my fear and make him stop.

It's been two years since I started university. I have just not been able to find my sort of people here. I prefer people who are passionate about what they are doing, conceptual with respect to their studies, ambitious and study stuff because they genuinely have the thirst for knowledge and not merely for getting good grades. I feel like the people I am around with now are extremely superficial. Caring too much about how they look or how many snaps they upload. I always feel drained whenever I have to be with them. I have found some people who don't respect my boundaries when I have clearly spoken out about how I don't want them to do it. I only have the same 6 people at most I talk to each day and they are also equally draining. I want to find someone else but I am finding it extremely difficult. I have also developed social anxiety to some extent because of which If I do leave these people, I'll just have no one to be with and it will make me even more anxious in social situations. I feel extremely alone and isolated and often try to not interact with anyone just to keep my peace of mind. I feel like these people are slowly making me forget who I am. I have been feeling mentally and physically drained during this course of time too. I feel like I am numb to everything. I don't feel excited by things I would have with before. Neither do I care if things go extremely wrong. I feel like if my life came crumbling down right now it's likely to some extent that I won't blink an eye because I just can't bring myself to care. Now everything feels like it's tuned down. I don't know what to do and am slowly losing hope. I just got my hair cut today and I don't feel anything about it. Previously, I would have been so excited to show it to people but this time nothing's happening. The only reason I even got them cut in the first place was beacuse I thought it would help me mentally. It didn't.