How to deal with anxiety when meeting new people

Have you ever wondered why meeting new people is so interesting? Maybe it’s because you never know what to expect? Because everyone is different, you never know how much you are going to like a person or if they will like you. This can sometimes lead to anxiety when meeting new people. How can we overcome that feeling? With this blog, my objective is to share my own experience at LSE Summer School to give you some tips on how to deal with this problem.

Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in life. In recent years, people have been more open about mental health, especially issues related to anxiety, self-esteem or even depression. I’d like to discuss one of the most important things I have learnt at LSE Summer School, which is how our minds can overcome these heavy feelings in our day-to-day life.

Think about your very first day of school. You did not know what to expect, if people would accept you or what kind of conversations you would have. You had no idea what was about to happen, and this is normal, because you cannot predict the future. This can be really nerve-wracking, but what exactly can we do to overcome these sentiments? My suggestion is to be yourself. It may sound very cliché, but nothing could be easier to do. By this, I do not mean that you should say or do whatever comes to mind. What I really mean is that you have to be able to own your feelings, and listen to yourself, allow your mind to be truly present, recognize all the negative thoughts, and relax. Only then are you going to train your brain to accept the current situation, which is your new environment – for me, that was LSE Summer School.

The Summer School gave me the opportunity to be surrounded by very smart individuals, coming from every part of the globe, and some of the best schools in the world. If you think of an environment that could cause anxiety on your first day, it would be exactly this! And to be honest, the anxiety came in different forms for me in the first day - I noticed that I was too quiet, I was very observant of the environment, and sat right at the end of the row in class, which is very unusual for me. However, I did not let this get to me and immediately started talking to the first person that sat next to me. They were a very kind person, and probably felt the same way I did. The next day I started to really feel the pressure of the workload, to really acknowledge the environment I was in, and began to struggle with feelings of impostor syndrome. However, it was only my anxiety about a new environment showing up in a different form. From that afternoon, I knew I needed to change my outlook on things.

The first thing I did was acknowledge my feelings, taking time to understand what I was feeling and why. There may be different ways of doing so for different people, but you can either talk to a loved one, take time alone to reflect, practice breathing exercises, read, listen to music, or even do sports – maybe even a mix of all of these! I also found the Summer School Spark events about wellbeing helpful for developing healthy coping mechanisms, and understanding my mental health. One coping mechanism I learned at a Spark event was that sometimes It helps to act like you are impersonating someone else to see the bigger picture. This can help you to relax because psychologically, anything you do from there is not really you doing it. The second thing I learnt about is acceptance. It's crucial we accept that we are different from others. Accept that you learn at a different pace from others and accept that others may know more than you do sometimes. If you accept that people may know more than you, you can view communicating with them as a learning opportunity, and therefore a positive experience and not something to fear. My final piece of advice would be to trust yourself, because you are good enough. You do not have to worry about who likes you or not, because the right people for you will like you just the way you are built and will not require you to be the smartest in the room.

I am grateful for my time at LSE Summer School, as it helped me to better understand myself and face some of my fears. Everyone gets anxious in new environments, but don’t let fear stop you from experiencing amazing opportunities!

 

This blog was written by one of our 2023 Student Ambassadors, who are here to share their stories and help you understand the summer school experience at LSE.