Hey everybody. Today we are diving into something that I know almost all of us struggle with at some point.

And that is worrying if people are judging us. Welcome to your anxiety toolkit where we talk about

building a life you love while managing

anxiety, maybe OCD, panic, and all the challenging emotions that come with it.

My name is Kimberly Quinlan.

I am a licensed anxiety specialist and today we're discussing how to stop worrying if people

are judging you.

Now, let's be real for a second.

I want you to raise your hand if you've ever felt that sinking feeling in your gut.

You're worrying about what someone might think about you. It might be at work

with friends on social media or even just as you walk down the street. Or instead of that, it's a

sinking feeling. Maybe you feel like you're a deer in headlights and your body goes into fight, flight, and freeze.

Maybe you feel nothing but terror. We all fear being judged. One thing that often really concerns me

is when people on the internet are out saying, don't worry, no one is judging you.

Don't be silly. You're great. Now, while that's lovely to hear and might make you feel less anxious

for a little while, the truth is sometimes people do judge us. But what if I told you there is a way to lean into that

uncertainty and anxiety about what they're thinking and move through that fear so that you can move

on and live your life without constantly being weighed down by it.

Now before we dive deeper into these ideas and discuss how to actually manage the fear that people are judging you, let's look at the facts. We want to get a little close here. So let's talk about something called the spotlight effect.

The spotlight effect is a psychological concept.

I talk with my clients all the time, and it demonstrates how we, when we're anxious,

overestimate how much other people notice about us.

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