Hi love. Super proud of you for posting this. I've been suffering from social anxiety for 13 years now. Everything you wrote I'm like, yup, me.!! I can really relate. As mentioned above, meditation daily and studying buddhism has been a great help for me, make being mindful throughout your day a habit and priority, learn to breath from your diaphragm instead of your lungs... its difficult and im trying to learn this one myself. Also diet. I eat strict keto and it has helped a lot. Taking baby steps was huge for me. When I was younger I didnt have a lot of support in the sense people either didnt believe anything was wrong or just didnt understand it. So be firm in the fact that you are working on it and you will take the baby steps to get where you need to be. I always had people pushing me, into situations that could send me back in my progress. I was suffering and wanted to be better so I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, in small baby steps, gained that confidence, made it a norm, and then pushed myself more. Also, get to the route of why you have this, I believe we may all/or most of us are predisposed to certain mental health issues and it is just if and when these are triggered by life events. Unfortunately ours is social anxiety, is there abuse in your past ? Bullying at school?! Whatever it may be, be honest about what has gotten you here, and try to resolve these, you were not born with SA. Also self compassion is probably one of the greatest things you can do. There is a lady named kristen neff?! I believe, she has a website on self compassion with exercises, guided meditation etc. It is somewhat corny, uncomfortable, and feels really weird. I actually despise doing these because it makes me feel so uncomfortable, but it will help you so much, so push through it if it makes you feel weird. I have a friend from school that also suffers from severe SA, and we both pinpoint learning self compassion through kristen neff as the biggest breakthrough in our anxiety (once learned this can easily be practiced through loving kindness meditation on your own). For me the physical symptoms were the worst part and triggered a full on panic attack. As soon as I got even the tiniest bit nervous, my body would start to shake uncontrollably, which would then start a panic attack. I started taking beta blockers (on an as needed basis, not daily, like if there was a social event, interview etc.) This slowed my heart rate down and thus kept the shaking at a controllable level. This helped in pushing me into situations that I wouldn't normally be in, gain that confidence, etc. SA can be weird in the fact that sometimes you can be a mostly confident person but physical symptoms of being nervous is a part of eroding that confidence and taking normal anxiety to an extreme, it can also be the biggest barrier in getting over it, be aware of any physical symptoms and Dont be afraid to take either something like this or an antidepressent to get you to where you need to be. There is a website called social anxiety support, which has a forum, this is where you may find the right drug combination for you. I dont know that you or I will be fully cured but it is definatly manageable, and I do think it is possible. I have had this for 13 years, but where my anxiety is now compared to then is night and day. I live a normal life, with friends and family, a demanding job, university educated, boyfriend and child. Now it mainly only surfaces in really difficult or stressful times in my life or in very stressful awkward social situations, like meeting the boyfriends family and friends, things like that. And again it is still far better than it had been years ago, and something I dread but can handle. My boyfriend (He also has SA) and I have a joke about "normal peoples anxiety" it's weird now being nervous about something, as everyone gets nervous at times in certain situations, and it's just different, and it's like oh this is what normal people without SA call anxiety. ? you can get there !! I hope this helps and I have every confidence that you are on the right track as being here and putting yourself out there is huge for someone with SA, and putting yourself out there is CRUCIAL for getting through this. I know all to well how hard it is to put yourself out there. And to push through having social anxiety takes extreme courage. Which makes you an incredibly strong person, you need to know this because having social anxiety makes you feel just the opposite. Good luck and I look forward to reading about your progress !!