Lindsay Young depicts the experience of living with social anxiety in their powerful spoken word poem “Social Anxiety.” Posted to Button Poetry’s YouTube channel, Young’s gripping performance communicates her feelings of fear surrounding social interactions and the sense of failure that emerges when these interactions do not turn out as expected. 

Weaved throughout the poem is an affirmation that the speaker uses as a tool to calm herself, although they describe how the words feel untrue. 

“I’m confident, I’m happy, I’m okay. I repeat these lies 10 times a day. My therapist says if I say them enough the fear of my own breath will disappear.”

Watch the video for the full poem here.

Image Credits:
Feature Image: Alex Ivashenko, On Unsplash, Creative Commons