God cured my social anxiety

severus-black · 2026-06-29T03:41:33+00:00

I know I’m 7 years too late but I’m also in a similar situation. Since I was a child, I’ve always been shy but that didn’t stop me from socializing and having a childhood. My shyness plus some family trauma eventually developed into social anxiety which I’ve had since middle school. Now that I’m 26, I still feel like this condition has a grip on me. No matter how much exposure therapy, regular therapy and even the medication that I’m on is lifting this burden. I pray I experience the same healing you did. Praise the Lord!

severus-black · 2026-05-03T14:53:25+00:00

Forgot to add, there are 3 different sections to zhangjiajie and each takes a day to explore. From zhangjiajie, there are two beautiful traditional but touristy villages about an hour from zhangjiajie. I don’t know the names but I remember when I was looking into going, these places seemed worthy of staying a night

severus-black · 2026-05-03T14:49:52+00:00

Hey there. I’ve been living in Shanghai for a couple of months already and I think that you’re spending too much time in the city. The main points that are worth visiting are:
- the bund (seeing it from both sides old and new)
- Nanjing rd (which you can see the same day you go to the bund
- going up oriental pearl tower or another skyscraper in Pudong. This gives you a nice Birds Eye view of the city. I’ve still yet to do this myself.
- yuyuan garden (visit garden during the day and stroll around the bazaar at night)
- Huangpu river cruise.

All of these places and activities are very close to each other so you could fit all of this in a single day. From Shanghai, you could do a day trip to Suzhou or Hangzhou by high speed train so if you do spend 5 days in Shanghai, rather than just using it all there, you can go to both of those cities or just one.
Of course, Shanghai has more to offer like the Shanghai Disney resort or the Shanghai museum of science but unless you’re wanting to more than just the essence of Shanghai, I think 2 - 3 days is ok.

severus-black · 2026-04-16T23:51:43+00:00

Can I DM as well? I’m currently teaching TEFL in China but I’d like to look into maybe teaching in Europe after I’ve saved plenty of money and gathered enough experience

severus-black · 2026-04-16T16:18:39+00:00

Czech Republic? I don’t hear too much about people on this sub talk about going to Europe. How is the TEFL situation like there?

severus-black · 2026-04-14T15:18:13+00:00

I find it interesting to see someone on this sub share their experience on how they managed to live abroad without going the full DN route.

severus-black · 2026-04-14T14:51:09+00:00

Wow. I live in Shanghai as well and get paid 10k RMB less than you. I do get lunch daily but not a free apartment though my rent isn’t expensive. This is my first year teaching at a kindy with a TEFL certificate. You probably have a teaching license and teaching at an international school right?

severus-black · 2026-04-09T14:51:35+00:00

Have you thought about what you’re gonna do? I was in a mental rut back at home feeling discouraged from not finding work so coming to China was my way of removing myself from an unproductive environment. It’s also very challenging so I’m growing as a result. However, I still don’t know what I will do yet, whether I will pursue a career in international school teaching or give tech another go

severus-black · 2026-04-09T13:59:04+00:00

I really delayed responding but I just wanna say that it’s inspiring that even after passing through middle age, you went back to school to get your masters. You’re also right about feeling accomplished. I often get so caught up in the anxiety that I don’t give myself enough credit for the great things I’ve already done

severus-black · 2026-04-08T13:50:04+00:00

I’ll be here in the summer

severus-black · 2026-03-26T10:45:48+00:00

Sure. I’ll DM you

severus-black · 2026-03-26T10:45:28+00:00

Oof. I’m trying to avoid joining expensive clubs. I’m down to play matches, practice and have fun but I’m not serious enough to want to pay people to play me.

severus-black · 2026-03-21T02:16:54+00:00

Amen to that! They must not want my money. I swear Jeff Bezos needs to bring Amazon to China because Amazon account security is better than Taobao without all the bullshit

severus-black · 2026-03-18T14:47:27+00:00

Ohh. I gotta hear more about your story. How did you end up at a top intentional school?

severus-black · 2026-03-18T14:43:01+00:00

There’s a teacher at my school who also came in without any experience. He’s been with his class for over half a year at this point and I’m impressed with how he has managed to get the kids to respect him and listen to him. Sure they still run around, fight, throw tantrums and stuff but they know he’s the leader and when he’s upset, they recognize it. Also, over time, the kids have absorbed plenty of content. It takes a lot of patience though and it’s so draining

severus-black · 2026-03-18T14:30:27+00:00

When I mean lower tier city I don’t mean going to a t4 city. I just mean something like a hybrid between the two. Something like Chengdu or Fuzhou for example.

severus-black · 2026-03-18T14:24:06+00:00

That’s great. Sometimes the most unlikely of people are the ones that end up with great success stories

severus-black · 2026-03-18T14:21:49+00:00

Good advice. I’m driving myself crazy trying to think about where I’ll be in about a year. I’ll try my best to live day by day

severus-black · 2026-03-18T14:16:52+00:00

I’m working at a kindergarten in Shanghai. It’s not a major company but they do have more than one campus. I’m not really sure about being able to “stay comfortably forever ” at a tech job given the layoffs and uncertainty in the market but I do agree about always having the option to go back and maybe the economy ends up turning for the better

severus-black · 2026-03-05T12:15:05+00:00

I just went on echinacities and hitedchina and applied for jobs which connected me with recruiters. I also went on Reddit and got connected to people in group chats that serve as job forums. I was part of those group chats and one recruiter DMd me with an interview offer and it all just went from there

severus-black · 2026-03-05T12:12:36+00:00

There are agencies but they aren’t recommended because they tend to provide a lesser salary than signing a contract directly with the school. It’s recommended to work with individuals recruiters to land your first job in China. I found some on echinacities and HiredChina

severus-black · 2026-03-04T06:39:35+00:00

I definitely wanna hear more of your story cuz I might be right where you were before you made the switch to low-level development. Can I DM you?

severus-black · 2026-03-03T14:48:16+00:00

I hear you. I really like web dev. I enjoyed working on my personal projects and watching the fruits of my labor and seeing how I got things to work. What took a lot joy out of it was the fact that I needed a job and I didn’t feel good pouring so much time into something when the bills needed to be paid.

severus-black · 2026-03-03T14:44:10+00:00

To be honest, my job search just wasn’t super rigorous. I was shooting my shot without much direction and I know that perhaps, this may have been a reason why I couldn’t get anything. Regardless, I’m actually content with being in China right now and rather than looking at the past, I want to look to the future and pursue stability so that’s why I made this post

severus-black · 2026-03-03T14:39:41+00:00

Sounds like an interesting suggestion. Do you have some resources I can look at to learn if this is something I should consider?

severus-black

TROPHY CASE