Speaking of social anxiety, here a great example:
Theirs this guy at my gym, I played hockey with his sons, he knows me and my whole family. So when I first saw him about a year ago, he made eye contact but didn’t say hi or anything.
I smiled and nodded, but just ignored me? I thought wtf? So after that, I was always nervous around him. I though he hated me for some reason. It was so weird cause he would make eye contact and it seemed like he recognized me, but he never engaged me let alone acknowledged me.
So today I was walking to a machine and I looked up and he was walking right towards me. Without thinking I automatically nodded my head, smiled and said
“Hey, you’re xy right?” He said Yeah! I reminded him who I was and his face lit up. “Omg no way! You’re so grown up! I’m sorry I don’t have my glasses when I train so I have a hard time seeing faces.”
Lmaoo I forgot he wore glasses, and this whole time I thought he hated me? Yeah that’s social anxiety for you.
From there we talked for another 5 minutes. It was relieving to finally crush that awkwardness and catch up.