Social Anxiety stories?

I have social anxiety, well at least I'm 99% sure. That official 1% is left up to a doctor. I know how you feel, it's awful. I'm in the very early stages of trying to get over it.
.
I'll tell you a few things that have helped me, that I recommend you try.
.
- Deep breathing, doesn't have to be slow, just really deep breaths whenever you start to feel anxious or even if you're just in a situation which usually makes you anxious. Also, if you have problems with blushing/going red, breathing is amazing for minimizing that as well (the worse thing you can do for blushing is put your face in your hands/sleeve, it will only make your face hotter and make cooling down harder).
.
- Mentally/verbally challenging bad thoughts, this might be tricky if your anxiety is severe, but it helps a little bit in mild - moderate situations for me. Once I was very nervous about walking to school, since I don't do that often, there were people everywhere and I was freaking that I'd have to walk past them. So, I told myself out loud 'it's okay, it's just walking, nothing bad is going to happen, just go, you'll be fine' and counting up to 3, which I would then walk out the door on (took a few times).
.
- Setting small realistic goals, the type of goal you set for yourself will depend a lot of your situation. Do you need to improve school attendance? Do you want to meet with friends more? Do you need to talk more? etc. For me, my school attendance was awful, so I set a goal to go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (because those are my 'easier' days in terms of anxiety provoking situations). Now after 6 weeks after setting this goal, I've only missed one of those days (but I'm yet to go on a Tuesday or Thursday). When you have time off of school/work, it's good to set goals for those as well, such as Have one conversation with someone every day, or Keep to your showering scheduled (both goals I set for myself because I had trouble doing them).
.
These things have definitely helped to control my anxiety a little better. I do feel more in control now, and that it turns also seems to lower my anxiety. This is all I have off the top of my head, and I hope it helps you a little bit. Good luck.

I've had social anxiety since I was little, but it's gotten worse in the past few years. Every time I go to a store I have to be on my own in that section or I feel like everyone's judging me for what I look at. I've had several panic attacks in school, which only made my panic worse. And once, I tried to give my crush my phone number and ended up panicking and running away instead. I have medicine now, and it's been a lot better for me, but it doesn't do everything. I've gotten better at talking myself down, too, and I have ways to calm myself when that doesn't work.

I suffer from crippling social anxiety and have given up on a lot of great things in my life because of it. It isn't fun and I know how scary and frustrating it is. I'm sorry you are experiencing the same thing. As for tips, I suggest going to see your general practitioner or finding a good therapist/psychiatrist that could help you. Mine put me on a medication known as 'Propranolol.' It is a beta-blocker used to treats high blood pressure, angina (chest pain), irregular heartbeat, migraine headaches, tremors, and lowers the risk of repeated heart attacks. Basically, it helps calm you down. I have heard a lot of success stories from people using Propranolol. If seeing a doctor or therapist isn't your thing. You could try some home remedies, like deep breathing exercises or drinking tea. I suggest you try to take a good 30 minutes out of your day to just be by yourself and relax, if possible. I hope you find what you are looking for on this site and I really hope you start to feel better soon and live your life! :D

Thank you all so much for your responses. This is my fist time using this site, and I never expected to hear from so many awesome people with great suggestions in such a short time period. I really appreciate everything you had to say, and it's always nice to know that there are other people who understand what you are going through. At school and in life, most people don't seems to understand just how crippling social anxiety can be, and I often feel like I sound crazy when people say to just "stop being shy!" or "come out of your shell!" Thanks again to everyone. (: