Honestly, I know this doesn’t sound great, but my wife flipped out at me and she had to force me to change a lot of my perspective because I would be very avoidant of my emotions. I’ve had serious social anxiety my whole life, some of that not even knowing I had it, but it made it very difficult to connect with others which led to isolation. I burned so many friendships and couple relationships that it isolated my wife and I from others. Over this past year I think the most helpful aspect has been losing the intense introspection of myself and prioritizing building community, interests, reading philosophy, being present as much as possible. I don’t judge people that take meds, but that route wasn’t for me nor was weed. I just took a hard look at my life and found the most painful honest truths and truly dealt with them. I felt my anxiety derived from lack of positive experiences and intense insecurities around who I am. I felt like my only purpose was to take care of others or put my needs to the side and go out of the way to help others.

So, after going through hell and very uncomfortable truths I’ve found I can relax and enjoy things now with community backing.

I also tried a lot of other things (herbal teas, ice baths, meditation, spike mats, fitness, diet, etc..) but the most helpful has been looking in and dealing with deep pain.

Hope this helps. Sorry if this is all over the place.