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Exploring who you are is part of growing up. These are benchmarks for each age group. Notice the purple behaviors and how important they are to managing anxiety. If you're not sure where you are, take our survey!

Self Awareness

With social anxiety, you should be focusing on learning about how your brain works, how your thoughts and emotions and actions are connected, and why it's important to practice in order to change your thinking. 

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With social anxiety, you should be focusing on what your body feels, naming complex emotions, what helps change your thinking, and how to love yourself.

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With social anxiety, you should focus of kindness, knowing your support systems, and how to see things from another perspective. 

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With social anxiety, this is a tough one. You will use these skills to practice feeling calm, understanding non-verbal communication, and understanding the connections between thoughts, feelings, and actions. 

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ALL that purple!! With social anxiety, you need to be focusing on self-care: mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, making goals, boundaries, and self esteem. 

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Self- Management

You are starting to connect your feelings to words and actions. You are starting to understand how recess isn't just fun, it's important! You can learn more in Adventures.

​In order to get to know who you are and how your emotions and your thinking and your actions are part of your development, you have to learn about each one first.

You will understand more complex emotions. You're not just "sad" that it's raining when you're supposed to go to a playground, you're disappointed and nervous that the plan changed and overwhelmed by the new choices you have to make to occupy time. 

You have to understand how your brain works in order to understand how emotions, thoughts, and actions (behavior).These things don't just happen, they are part of who you are! Here are some links to learn more:

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Social Awareness

Social Awareness is being aware of the people around you. How are they different from you and the same as you? 

You are learning that different doesn't mean bad. Your family has values and beliefs that others might not. You are learning to understand and appreciate these differences. 

You are also learning how your actions affect others. 
When you are talking to other people, you are learning that the words you choose and the way you say things can affect another person. 

You are learning that choosing to think about how other people feel, being kind, and being supportive can change another person's day or maybe even life! That knowledge is how you know there are such things as superheroes. 

​You are also learning who to ask for help and what to do if someone needs your help. Learn more about Kindness and Creativity by clicking on the link:

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Relationships

You are learning that relationships with others may involve conflict. You understand that a disagreement can be resolved if you are respectful in your words and actions. 

How do you know if someone is happy? They smile, they may jump up and down, and they may also say "I'm Happy!" 

You are starting to understand that your body and face and the tone of your words can communicate the same way words can. 

If you have social anxiety, this core competency is hard. In theory, you know what words to say. But if you are anxious, your body starts doing things you didn't ask it to do. Your face might turn red, your hands might get shaky, you may feel sweaty, or you start to breathe really fast. It's embarassing. Thinking about your body or facial expressions AND your words make it overwhelming. 

Find strategies to calm down In the Moment in the Strategies Link. 

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​Decision Making

You are learning about making decisions. You are figuring out what you need and want from others and yourself and how to ask for it or say no. 

You are learning how to deal with "no" and how to solve problems. 

These skills start and end with "self-care."

You have to take care of yourself if you're going to make good decisions. You have to believe in yourself and treat yourself well. Mindfulness strategies are linked under Strategies.

With anxiety, your body and your downstairs brain are making all the moves before asking the rest of you. 

During this time, you need opportunities to explore different perspectives and gather information so you can make informed decisions. If you are going to manage axienty, this is the basis of all of your plan. 

You'll need to grow your critical thinking skills to grow your decision-making abilities. Choosing goals to work towards can help with decision -making. You can read more about how in Plan linked below. 

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