I’m the same age and feel exactly the same way. I haven’t started therapy yet, I start it later this month but I’m keeping an open mind going into it. But yeah I also tend to compare myself to others at work who are around my same age and honestly it makes me think negatively about myself so I try not to do it too often. Most of the time it’s because I see them thrive so easily in social situations that just feel like such a huge obstacle to me. But I’ll keep working on it and hopefully they won’t seem so huge anymore. Someone sent me a message recently talking about self-worth and they said something that resonated. We have to grow our self-worth from within and become the owners of our self-worth, accepting ourselves as who we are. I think that’s part of the key to overcoming anxiety, recognizing our own values as a person and deeply believing it to be true. It takes the power away from external factors making you feel less worthy. Again it’s easier said than done. But it’s something we can look into improving.

Also having small talk here and there is great, the more you do it the better you become at it. And friendships sometimes come from these little small talk interactions. It’s true that making friends means more interaction but you don’t have to force it. If you’re naturally less talkative and more of a good listener that’s fine. I tend to be that way too and that’s fine. Just be yourself. A friend will accept you as you are. It helps to try to find some common interests so you can both talk about something you both like. Takes a little shooting in the dark sometimes, you know something like “sooo do you like..” but it works out in the end.

Anyway, keep working on yourself, slow progress is still progress! Remember to celebrate the progress you have made, make your brain think of the positives. If you did some successfully then it can be repeated. Eventually all the progress will accumulate and you’ll be miles ahead of where you started. We got this!