[briancl]

I feel the same.

My theory is that I’ve learned from my past mistakes of being a shut-in due to social anxiety, which led me to spiral downward when things inevitably went wrong in life.

I decided to do something about that: face my anxiety head on.

Now I have a thriving network of close friends, colleagues, mentors, and family. Things will go wrong, but I have a support stem. I will be okay.

Being okay is rad.

One of the most surprising parts of this transformation is when people reach out to me after something has gone wrong in their life. I used to freeze in those moments. Unsure how to act or what to say. Now I feel honored to be there for a friend, and it’s rewarding in ways I never thought possible.

[Kirth]

Over what timespan did you do this, and do you have any tips for others who should be doing the same thing?

[briancl]

Exposure therapy over years. I don’t think I’m done, so I’d say I’m still at it. But not how you think.

I was fortunate to have a major career change thrust upon me.. it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I took it. It required me to go from a passive customer-facing role to an active customer-facing role.

It was difficult, and I struggled early on, but I feel like I’m the type of person who can rise to a challenge. Usually that’s a technical challenge or something less personal, but I just kept tell myself that I was the type of person who can rise to any challenge and kept going.

When this career change presented itself, I had just had my first child, and I wanted to be better for him. I wanted to be a good role model.