Posted by Simon on 11/4/2009, 9:07 am, in reply to "Re: Definition"

Surely then the problem is the embarrassement. It's the 'fear' of the potential embarrassement that causes the irrational thought processes & controls our behaviour. The challange therefore is to deal with the embarrassement up to & including simply not feeling embarrassed. The fear is ridicule. I don't have anywhere near the problem I used to have around strangers since I concluded the people around me will probably never see me again & are completely oblivious of me in the moment anyway. Result, I have no fear of embarrassement. My problem is around people I know who may potentially comment. I often think the answer is just to make a joke of it by being simply honest. If someone wants to attempt to ridicule me at that point, that can only happen if I'm embarrassed. It's all about breaking the circle. That will never be done by avoiding it. I've made some progress, but continue to habitually avoid potentially embarrassing situations around people I know. Sadly I'm well aware every tme this happens I just reinforce the circle rather than break it.

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