how do u help urself with social anxiety

For me I feel like I can get to the place of not caring what people think about me but then end up feeling very alone. I have struggled having close connections or feeling like anyone can relate to them so this app has been super helpful with that so far.

I have yet to have one relationship where someone has not put me down in some way. And I don't forsee that ever changing considering the odds. So I have been working on learning to love my self. It's a foreign thought process to take care of myself and think of myself as valuable. So I'm trying to retrain my brain by recognizing my strengths. The emotional mapping is a great tool too. But as far as tools for not overthinking.... I'm new to that goal myself. I'm going to be talking with my therapist about that. The one tool that I currently have is to distract myself with something I love to do. Art, a good documentary or movie.... writing and list making helps too. Do any of those sound like they would help? I don't think I will ever be able to not care about what other people think because I am a sensitive and empathetic person... but I can do my best to recognize where they are wrong.....

Someone very wise told me once that what other people think of me is none of my business. Trying to second guess what people are thinking is counterproductive and to be honest they are probably not thinking about you at all because they have their own stuff going on.

I used to think that way, a lot. Then one day, while I was overthinking a conversation that I had, I realized that I shouldn’t care what anyone thinks of me, likes me, thinks I’m weird (b/c I am weird & I like myself just the way I am), etc… b/c if they’re the people who matter to me in my life; then there is no way that they would think of me like that. If they’re people who don’t really matter to me in the grand scheme of things, then why should I care? When I realized that I shouldn’t care at all what those people think of me, I just stopped caring if people didn’t like me, think negatively of me, etc… and became a whole lot happier & didn’t overthink situations as much. Not completely b/c I do overthink things sometimes, just not as much where it bothers me & gives me social anxiety.