Social Anxiety Especially Through the Holidays

Are the upcoming holidays sparking feelings of social anxiety? You are not alone! In this candid episode of the Second Wind podcast, Judy Marie shares a personal struggle and offers four practical, powerful tools to help you navigate social settings with greater calm and resilience. Social anxiety is primarily a physical experience—a nervous system response—before it's a cognitive one. Judy Marie explains how to regulate this response and change the patterns that keep anxiety alive. In this episode, you will learn four key tools: Calming the Body with Breathwork: Use the specific 4-2-6 breath technique to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, lower your heart rate, and signal safety to your brain. Mindfulness and CBD Use: Explore how non-psychoactive CBD may help relax the nervous system, reduce tension, and create more room for therapeutic tools to work. (Remember to consult your healthcare provider and start small). Gradual Exposure: Combat the main fuel of anxiety—avoidance—by creating a list of social situations from least to most threatening and practicing success in small, repeated steps. Cognitive Reframing: Use the Three R technique (Recognize, Reevaluate, Replace) to weaken distorted thoughts like "Everyone is judging me" and replace them with more balanced truths. Judy Marie also highly recommends the documentary "Sensitive: The Untold Story" for a deeper understanding of social anxiety and the gift of being highly sensitive. Healing isn't about changing who you are; it's about learning how to work with your nervous system.