Good ideas. I did more self-work on this in my journal this morning. I also noticed that I'm not anxious about meeting one or two people -- only when going into a larger group. I firmly believe that becoming self-aware of the first step. Now that I know that I am "going unconscious" and accepting distorted self-talk as legitimate "good reasons," I hope I will be able to do what you say, Daisy -- replace the silly reasons with positive self-talk and put one foot in front of the other go.

Sometimes I tell myself, "It's only for an hour," and if it's torture, I say good-bye and just go. I can always manage an hour, and I often wind up enjoying myself, being glad I went, and wondering why I made such a big deal out of it.