secondsofanxiety

Instagram Feeds are usually harmonious to the point where people delete their old posts because they are not as „high-quality“ as the newer ones.
We decided not to do that in order to show that nobody just creates something out of thin air.
It takes time and trying things out - and if it doesn‘t work, trying again and again.
We also want to show you out progress because maybe it helps you to see, that it is okay to not immediatly create something amazing. It still is valid.
#secondsofanxiety #process #processaccount #workinprocess #creativeprocess

A friendly reminder that you are in control of your feed!
Social Media can be a toxic place, but it doesn't have to be.
If someone is posting things that are triggering to you - just unfollow or block them.
It is OKAY.
Your feed is also your personal space and you are allowed to have boundaries.
Be the donkey!

#secondsofanxiety
#boundaries #myfeed #donkeysrule

well we have to admit we made this post when the weather was better.. now it's pretty rainy outside and for me personally it's hard to find joy in going outside. But even on the rainy days you might find a nice spot outside where you can enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend or treat yourself to a piece of cake or whatever makes your day a little brighter and lets you come out of your shell a little bit :)

Do you know the feeling?
Take your time, it is okay to take a break, you deserve it.

#secondsofanxiety #needabreak #takeyourtime

Instagram is not real!

During the lockdown everybody tends to spend more time online.
We can look at pictures of friends, family and people we don't know at all.
It is an important tool to feel connected and can be great.
We want to share the moments where we are happy and feel good about ourselves.
Nothing wrong with that.
But if you only see the great stuff happening in other people's life's it can make you feel miserable about yourself and actually increase anxiety and social pressure.
If you feel this feeling, it might be best to avoid Social Media for a while, connect with your close ones and talk to them.
Because what you see on Instagram probably isn't their real life.
Since, well - Instagram isn't real!

#secondsofanxiety #instagramisnotreallife #socialmediaisnotreallife #socialpressure

As socializing gets harder and harder the longer the lockdown lasts, we prepared some tips for you on how to socialize when socializing is being made harder as it already is.
Have you found any other ways to communicate with people in these times? Tell us in the comments :)
#socialize #distance #anxietytips

One of the topics we haven't really talked about on this account is the ongoing pandemic and (part)lockdown in many countries of the world at the moment.
Social distancing has become something that is not seen as rude but as protection of those who are more vulnerable than us. And we DEFINITELY should continue to protect the ones we love and help others do the same.

This long period of selfisolation has (of course) an huge impact on our mental health.
Not only because we are afraid of infection or infecting others, but also because the pandemic caused a lot of changes in our lifes that can induce or worsen our (social) anxiety.
And when we are "out", seeing friends or family or just going to the supermarket, every social rule we know has changed!

So if you feel like you forgot how to people, your anxiety has become stronger again or if you just wonder "Am I being weird?"
You're not, everything else is.
Its not you, it is the bike.
It's not you, it is the situation.

Thank you @elena_lo1 for giving us feedback and the idea to talk more about social anxiety and corona ❤

#secondsofanxiety #iforgothowto #howtopeople #lockdownanxiety #itsnotyourfault #forgothowtorideabike

Präsentation

We are secondsofanxiety and today we want to give you an introduction to our account:
Who we are,
How and why the account came about,
What we have achieved
And what the future holds!
We - Clara and Helen - are the two creatives behind secondsofanxiety. We study sustainable design in Cologne with a focus on animation and illustration.
As part of the project "Fear is a strange beast" with Martin Böer, we founded the Instagram account secondsofanxiety on 21 October 2020.
The idea was to deal with the topic of "Social Anxiety" or "Social Anxiety Disorder" while documenting the complete creative process online.
Social Anxiety means feeling uncomfortable in social situations. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is an anxiety disorder in social situations.
SAD affects approximately 15 million people in the US. That's about 7.1 per cent of the US population, making SAD one of the top three mental illnesses.
It is important to us to make both informative and uplifting posts. Sufferers should feel seen and heard while awareness of SAD and Social Anxiety is spread to everyone else.
For more empathy, we also want to reach as many people as possible. That's why we chose Instagram as a platform and write the captions to the posts in English.
Of course, there are already other accounts on Instagram that deal with this topic. Our special feature, however, is that we run the account as a team. We have a different perspective on social anxiety and our drawing styles are also different.
The two recurring characters and our consistent colour scheme prevent the feed from falling apart.
Also, secondsofanxiety is a process account where we have also experimented a lot.
Instagram is actually a place of pretend perfection. We have deliberately broken this up with our concept in order to reduce the social pressure of the platform. - At least for us and our followers.
In total, we have posted over 50 posts.
So far! Because we are continuing with our account. The plan is at least one comic or new animation per week.
We stick to our imperfection, because life with or without Social Anxiety is a process and not perfect either. That's why it's always nice to know that you're not alone.

We found a book recommendation on verywellmind.com with the best books for anxiety of 2021.
Here are our 4 favourite books from the list.
While many people turn to professional help, books are a great way to teach yourself some tools to help combat anxiety.
What books did you find most helpful with social anxiety? Let us know in the comments or in our new story post.
#helpful #bookrecommendation #readingforselfhelp #secondsofanxiety

Here's a little guide on how to seek help step by step.
It can feel overwhelming when it's the first time you're seeking help and you don't know what to expect or where to start.
You don't have to do everything at once. Getting help and helping yourself is a process and takes time ❤

Who else has this really cool person in their life that they really would like to get to know better?
But you just can't find the courage to walk up to them and tell them. Or you think they might not find you cool enough.
And so you spend a whole lot of time wondering about what might go wrong - just to find out that they always thought you were really cool too.

#secondsofanxiety
#ithinkyourcool #characterdesign #childhood #coolperson

New years resolutions pt. 2!!!

#secondsofanxiety #newyearsresolution #gorunning #doingthis

New Years Resolutions can be a great way to get the motivation to try new things.

They can also be a great way to put to many things on your plate and get really stressed out.
And that is normal, since nobody and nothing changes in one day.

So if you broke your resolutions: this doesn't define your worth or dim the sparkling light of your amazing existence.
Be kind to yourself, today and for the rest of the year - you deserve it.

#secondsofanxiety
#newyearsresolution #brokenresolutions #youareamazing #illbethereforyou

Happy New Year!

#secondsofanxiety #dinnerforone #dinnerforanxiety #sameprocedureaseveryyear #sameanxiety #2021

Something we did a while ago, but hadn't posted yet because christmas is really stressful:

So, the holidays can be a rough time.
It is stressful to get all the presents, to wonder whether they are the RIGHT presents and to be all cheerful and happy in this time of year where the sun hardly ever comes out.

It is okay to not think of the holidays as the most wonderful time of the year.

It's okay to be overwhelmed.

It's okay to make ugly cookies.

If the pressure is too much, remember:
If your cookies don't turn out to be all cute and perfect: they still will taste delicious and that's really all a cookie needs to do.

Love your ugly cookies ❤

#secondsofanxiety #christmasbaking #expectationvsreality #uglycookies #thebestcookies #loveyourugly

even if we can't dance this year, lets try to have some fun anyway and enjoy the holidays as much as possible!
(music: Cookin Soul - Xmas Treeeee)
#holidays #feelhugged #socialanxiety

One last tip before our holly jolly holiday content begins to flood your feed:
Giving someone a compliment can be a great challenge to fight your social anxiety. This doesn't have to be anything big- just give a sincere and genuine compliment to someone about something you admire. 💞
Give each other some love especially during these hard times and always.
#compliment #love #socialanxiety

Challenging yourself to new situations can significantly improve your social skills but just as important is listening to your needs and communicating them with the people around you.
Expressing your feelings might feel embarrassing at first but it gets more and more empowering the more often you do it - promise! 🌼

The small victories count as well, if not more!
#secondsofanxiety #sayhi #socialanxietydisorder #smallvictories #hellothere #ididit

A nice cup of tea can't fix everything.
So how about LOTS AND LOTS of them?

#secondsofanxiety #nicecupoftea #keepcalmanddrinktea #abwartenundteetrinken #anxietyattack

I promise it won't be like that this time!!!!
#anxiety #ohnoadate #secondsofanxiety

Hey Pretty (and Handsome), you are doing great!

#secondsofanxiety #littlereminders #youaredoinggreat

But hey, this week will be better!
And we'll be back with more content on facing your fears and how the little triumphs mean everything.

#secondsofanxiety #lastweeksucked #betternexttime

it can be helpful to tell the people around you that you struggle with social anxiety so you can figure out how to set your boundaries and when to challenge yourself to new social experiences (just maybe not in the middle of the night ;) )
#socialanxiety #uhm #hey

Sometimes you don't have to do much to help someone who suffers from social anxiety.
Just let them know you're here for them.

#secondsofanxiety #imhereforyou #stuff

To prepare for social situations people with SAD often prepare how to answer questions they might get.

#secondsofanxiety
#imfine #finethanks #yeahfine #preparedness

no human interaction this early in the morning pls

the more patient you are with people who suffer from social anxiety the safer they'll feel to open up 🌼
#socialanxiety #gooutside #patience

But seriously, it probably will.
.
.
.
.
.
Or not.

#secondsofanxiety #probably #ornot #postivevibesonly

Hello, I'm an extrovert, may I intrude your personal space?

#secondsofanxiety #anxietystory #nosocialising #newroomie #bestfriendsforeverandever #letmego

It's **feel-good-week**
After all that heavy content of the last weeks we needed a break and decided to post some wholesome content this week.
This one focuses on the the really important things in life.. getting a cat's attention. obviously.
Especially when you're overwhelmed in a social situation.
#socialanxiety #importantthingsinlife #cats

Something cute to brighten your day!

#secondsofanxiety #selfesteemboost #sundaycuteness #ilikeyou

Bonus panel!
And a like reminder to see things in perspective - there's a lot of great stuff happening every day and you can choose to remember that stuff instead of the negative things.

#secondsofanxiety #overcominganxiety #overcomingnegativity #greatstuff

Negative Bias means that you register negative things more than positive ones.
A simple - maybe not even really negative thing - can ruin your whole day.
But then again, it is just in our minds, so we can combat the bias by no longer engage in negative Self-Talk and replacing it with some less destructive patterns like listening to music or talking a walk.
And also by remembering the positive events of the day more often, like this moment, where we tell you:
You're amazing and you're doing a great job!

#secondsofanxiety #negativebias #negativethoughts #newpatterns #youreamazing

Sometimes, social anxiety can already be diagnosed at a young age. But the symptoms may appear differently than in adults.
Children with the disorder may for example cling to a parent, refuse to play with other kids or complain of physical symptoms when put into a social situation.
#socialanxiety #diagnosis #childhoodanxiety

Another diagnotic criteria of SAD may be that the anxiety you are experiencing is out of proportion to the actual threat of the situation.
It sounds easy to just look at the situation objectively but as we learned before - all the physical and cognitive symptoms can be so overwhelming that it might be difficult to calm down.
If you are suffering under such symptoms it might be helpful to find an anxiety therapist.
#anxiety #bigfear #diagnosticcriteria #SAD

One of the SAD diagnostic criteria is regularly experiencing fear or anxiety in one or more social situations (such as meeting new people, being observed eating, or giving a speech).
Seek a psychiatrist or other mental health professional who can help with treatment if this fear or anxiety has lasted for 6 months or longer.
#constantfear #diagnosticcriteria #SAD #socialanxiety

It may be hard to know wether your symptoms are severe enough for you to be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. But if you feel that what you are experiencing is significantly affecting aspects of your daily life it might be a good idea to seek some help.
**In the next posts we'll show some diagnostic criteria as well.**
#seekhelp #secondsofanxiety #dailylife

the physical symptoms of SAD can be very distressing.
Other physical symptoms than the ones shown in our little animation include for example: blurred vision, chest pain, dry mouth, derealization and many more.
For some people, these symptoms may become so severe that they escalate into a panic attack.
Take care of yourself, social interaction can be overwhelming sometimes! Soon we'll post some strategies to help these symptoms so stay tuned :)
#physicalsymptoms #socialanxiety #secondsofanxiety

It is quite understandable to avoid the things that scare us - but avoidance maintains anxiety.
Let your friends know, that you're anxious in that particular situation and what they may do to help you feel safe. That's what friends are for.

#secondsofanxiety #friendship #avoidancebehavior #cancellingplans

Let's talk safety behaviours!

It is one ore several actions that are taken to reduce or control a social situation.
If you're scared of speaking publicly but still are forced to do so, some safety behaviours are lowering your voice or avoiding eye contact.
These behaviours might help reduce the anxiety in the moment. But another consequence is that the situations will continue to make you anxious, until you really face them.
Avoiding something will not make you less anxious about it. Therapy and gradually shifting your thoughts will.
The things you mumble matter and deserve to be heard.

#secondsofanxiety
#safetybehaviour #avoidance #mumble

One of the behavioural symptoms of anxiety is escaping feared situations, for example leaving a social situation early.
It might be perceived as rude but it really isn't. And while it is important to face those scary situations it is okay to take it slow and just gradually increase the time spent in situations that trigger your anxiety.

#secondsofanxiety #behaviouralsymptoms #takeitslow #escape

Negative beliefs and thoughts can have a big influence on how you think and what you do.
So please remember, that you are loved.
#secondsofanxiety #negativethoughts #negativebeliefs #youareloved

This is about anxiety in general, which includes of course social anxiety disorder. The specific thoughts and symptoms may vary but the cycle itself stays the same.
Inspired by the anxiety cycle of @dlcanxiety
They have lots of useful information on anxiety and depression, be sure to check out and follow their account!

#secondsofanxiety #anxietycycle #anxietysymptoms

Social Anxiety Disorder is more than just shyness.
Your feelings are valid!

#secondsofanxiety #shyness #validfeelings

What exactly Social Anxiety Disorder is, how it affects the everyday life, how to treat it (because it is treatable!), how friends can help and everything else will be the subject of this on going project.
Stay tuned!

If you have suggestions or feedback for us, we'll be more than happy to hear it ❤

#secondsofanxiety #explain #overwhelmed

The abbreviation for Social Anxiety Disorder is SAD and this choice doesn't seem very empathetic to me.
What do you think?

#secondsofanxiety #socialanxietydisorder #badabbreviation

good morning ppl, remember it's all in your head
#feelingtrapped #escape #secondsofanxiety

"I always feeeel like somebody's watching mee"
#uncomfortable #secondsofanxiety #whenileavethehouse

sometimes i hug my plants and let them know that i love them. even if i don't manage to take the best care of myself, taking care of them makes me feel better.
#plantlove #plantsoverpeople #secondsofanxiety

social anxiety halloween edition (sound on for extra spook)
#halloween #thatperson #scaryphonecalls

"What if"-thoughts are often anxious. We get lost in scenarios and the "best" might be just as scary as the worst that could happen.

#secondsofanxiety #whatifs #scarystuff

Aren't we all trying to find some balance these days?

#secondsofanxiety #amifalling #avoiDANCE

New colours, who dis?

#secondsofanxiety #anxietyhumor #sadtree

socially distancing 4 life

#nope #antisocial #stayhome

Somedays start out just fine, and then I end up feeling like I can barely go on.
It helps to know I'm not alone in this.

#secondsofanxiety #frozenhearts #somedaysijustcant

isn't everyone?

Some thoughts keep re-occurring...

#secondsofanxiety #toxicrelationshipsurvivor #anxietystruggles

breathee

This is us!
Well, half of each of us.

Did you know that people who suffer from anxiety often describe their mood as grey and happy people tend towards yellow?

#anxietycoloring
#secondsofanxiety #greyandyellow #moodycolors