[SadFatCat]

I need to be social for my son and his new family but, I am so not social. I want to be. I flew to the UK for his wedding and stayed with his new in-laws and it was so hard trying to be normal. Trying to not embarrass my son. What am I going to do? I have to be social for my son but, I am so afraid.

[Anika.]

Sometimes we jaust have to face the fear, be a little uncomfortable and walk through it minute by minute.

That's really half the battle isn't it? Facing what we are afraid of, stacking up evidence that we can do this, not that we can't. Often we don't need any evidence at all to believe we cannot do something, and we need an incredible amount of evidence to believe we can. It's kind of funny when you think about it.

I find it very helpful to not think about what will happen. And just try to take things ad they come in the present. Loosing that anxiety over the situation helps a great deal. You might even find it helps you become more social and comfortable with it if you can loose some of the fear associated with it.

For example.. not worrying about embarrassing your son. Often we tend to catastrophize the future with what if's that might not ever happen, and we are good at it too! What if you were just able to be yourself, and what if they liked you? We don't think those kind of thoughts tho usually, even tho often it more likely to be the outcome.

I don't know if that helps, but it has helped me deal with many of my own fears.

It's using mindfulness, Jon Kabot Zinn has some very good videos on youtube if you feel that might help you. Worth a try if you haven't already explored that.

[Gus1234U]

here is a link to a post in the PTSD forum, on Anxiety Management. i hope you find something in there that helps you on your way to mastery and recovery~!

http://forums.psychcentral.com/post-...ptsd-too~.html

best wishes~
Gus