Social Anxiety: Eye Contact (Stop Being Awkward)

Social anxiety makes eye contact very awkward. So, how can you improve eye contact when you have social anxiety?
In this video, I share several eye contact tips and other ways to improve eye contact for sufferers of social anxiety.

[EdTheAnxietyCoach]

Do you struggle with eye contact? What situations do you find most difficult?

[anatav]

i cant even hold eye contact with family, its so shamefull... but ill try to overcome my social anxiety. if you could do it then i can too =D

[oomenacka]

I'm verbally the most confident person in the room but whenever I look at anyone I lose my wittiness and my decent conversation skills. I actually can't focus on my own thoughts when I have to take in their face and think about how my face looks to them. Over the phone or in group calls I'm the life of the party. In person I dont exist sometimes.

[rekhatabharam]

We lose our precious moments, friends and relations because of this problem.

[aaronarrietta]

When I try to make eye contact with people I feel like I'm being judge or I feel like they think I'm weird 😞

[jackbrick]

LISTEN If you want to fix the issue do this and I promise it will work: Look at your self in the mirror for 2 mins a few time per day. At first it will be weird but then you will start to get bored of being awkward and begin to notice things about your eyes (which is making eye contact). Just be consistent

[aomixy]

This comment section is everything. I have never been able to relate this much, I really thought I was the only werid one but now I feel kinda relieved

[quinnrouse]

I like summer/spring because I can wear sunglasses. It gives me a sense of safety. I can naturally look around without feeling like a goal or objective needs completing.
It’s when my eyes are bare (99% of the time) is when i start getting anxious. I don’t know what to look at or what to do. This is only when my body is in a static position, like on the bus or sitting down. If I’m moving the options are limitless.

[evangelineashok]

I don't know y but my heart was pounding much faster when he was explaining....
I wish we all could overcome this..

[vanwilderx]

I feel it every single day, feel like people are reading all my thoughts through my eyes, I get this choking feeling which is overwhelming, it's nerve wrecking, but I can pull through, I believe that.

[youngnautica]

I wish I was taught how to use eye contact at a young age. I didn’t even know I was supposed to “look in the eyes” until middle school. I’m in my early 20’s working on myself and I think this would be a huge step in becoming a better person. This pandemic has made my social anxiety so much worse but mask wearing makes eye contact vital, gotta get this one down.

[Vaaleste]

The thing is, I avoid it because I "feel" my face doing weird expressions (and anxiety, of course).
For example I feel my eyebrows getting into a "mad" state or I feel my lips/lower part of my face casually move.

[mandalaygray]

I am terrible at eye contact. I dread interviews immensely for this reason. I have been on so many and it never gets easier. When talking to the interviewer the urge to look down is so strong but I resist as to not look unprofessional. Then I start to get dizzy and get tunnel vision almost like I am locked into a trance. I also feel my blood pressure rising almost like an anxiety attack is coming.

[allluvin]

So my eye contact anxiety is so weird to the point I can't even look at my close family members, it's so weird that I get depressed and I'm planning on telling them because I'm tired of hiding this secret from them.

[jameslo]

Making eye contact with strangers gives me anxiety. Thanks for making this video, it makes me believe that I can overcome my anxiety! =)

[Borboleta]

Sometimes I can be fine with eye contact but often I struggle, depending on how strong a grip social anxiety has on me that day. One thing I worry about is making the appropriate amount of eye contact. When anxiety is getting the better of me, being an introverted person who hates conflict situations and worries about being misconstrued as rude, I always err on the side of too little eye contact.
During a particularly anxious episode once, I avoided eye contact with a group of girls who happened to be Muslim and they shouted racist’ after me as I went past. While I can understand how they formed that assumption, it really hurt and was completely mortifying as that is not my character at all. I was so embarrassed I froze, didn’t say a word and burst into tears once I was away from people.

This anxiety over having my actions/visual behaviours misconstrued continues to rear it’s head and haunt me at times.

I worry A LOT about offending people as I hate any kind of conflict and have an excessive fear of seeming arrogant or rude...I tend to feel really flustered and tongue tied when people’s eyes are on me as I have such a high level of self awareness and self consciousness.

I feel very lonely a lot of the time and I haven’t kissed, dated, or had any kind of romantic relationship in over 4 years. I’ve just subscribed to your channel as I hope I will learn a few useful tips here and it will boost my wellbeing. Thank you for creating this channel and posting these videos, you are doing a great service to many people! 🌎😊💪❤️

[josedamigo]

Hate having this problem man, this problem really gets me depressed sometimes. Hope I can get over it one day 💪🏼 thanks for the video by the way bro, keep up the good work

[ghowman]

A soft gaze. That's some of the best advice on this subject that I've heard.

[crisyorke]

I am a very dominant person. But I hate eye contact. I just hate people, and feel people are disgusting. I don’t trust people at all.

[arianaoyola]

Who else is lowkey grateful for zoom because it helps with social anxiety and being more confident?