Hi learning to accept.

In the short-term there are not many solutions you can easily use. But maybe medications can give temporary relief. But really, when it comes to social anxiety, using medications mostly mask underlying causes and take away a genuine opportunity for you to grow as a person.

When you have social anxiety, you have to take full responsibility for your social life and social skills. Other people cannot socialize for you, so to speak. You have to make conversations happen. There are no easy quick-fixes for this. It requires the right knowledge, time, and effort, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. In the beginning when overcoming social anxiety mistakes are bound to be made. But there's no other way than to learn from them and move on.

I think your best bet in overcoming SAD (and sad is something you can overcome, I've done it myself) is to read a lot of self-help books about social skills, relationships, and communication tips. Armed with this knowledge you should put it into practice (just reading is not enough). Amazon.com is a good place to search for book that help you overcome social anxiety, and besides audio tapes from Brian Tracy or Tony Robbins can also help.

I just hope you don't put all your hope on only medications and therapy. To overcome it it takes more than that. Really important is learning to set realistic and attainable social goals. If you learn this and master this, I'm sure you can beat your social anxiety. (Btw, using Imagery or Visualisation is also useful for overcoming sad... mentally practicing social situations in your mind).

It's a great feeling when you want to socialize only for the sake of socializing. You don't care about what is being said, or what the purpose of the conversation is. You just like to join in, talk, and have a good time. I hope you get to that point.