Carry on Beautiful!

I often get very anxious about leaving the house and going to public places but these are some things that make me feel a little better. Some of these are decisions i’ve come to my self while others are things that my boyfriend has reminded me of. Like i said, these all help me and i really hope they can help other people who feel the same!

Everyone is out for a reason, and to them, that reason is much more important than what shoes you’re wearing or if your t-shirt has a stain from the beans you ate for breakfast on it.

When you go into a public toilet everyone’s there for the same thing and no one cares about the noises that happen while you do your thing. They also don’t care about you taking too long to dry your hands or looking in the mirror for a little bit too long.

When you buy something, you’re allowed to take a few seconds to sort your change out. You don’t have to be flustered or embarrassed if it takes you more than point one seconds to get your change into your wallet, put that back into your bag or pocket and grab whatever you bought.

You’re the only person who will notice if you’re sweaty or if your eyeliner has smudged or if your hair isn’t in the right place.

The cashier doesn’t care what you’re buying. If the shop sells it, chances are they’ve already sold it to ten people just that day, and once you’ve left they will be onto the next customer without sparing you the slightest thought. This even applies to sex toys, menstrual products and underwear.

If you run into someone you know its okay to just wave and carry on. Its not rude to not stop to chat if that makes you nervous, just nod or wave on your way past and its fine.

Its okay to take something that makes you feel better. Its really okay to carry that stone you found at the beach that seems to fit the pad of your thumb perfectly, or that cardigan that’s about four sizes too big and desperately in need of a wash because of the orange juice you accidentally dipped your sleeve in.

If you buy food or a drink its okay to walk slowly to make sure you don’t spill anything. No one minds, everyone knows why you’re doing it and chances are they walk slower to avoid spills too. I’m pretty sure the only people graceful enough to walk at a normal speed without spilling coffee are Elves and fortunately (or unfortunately) we’re not in middle earth so you don’t need to worry about them.

If you trip or walk into something, everyone who saw it forgets about it with in an hour. Think about it, you see people trip or walk into stuff all the time but do you remember who they were? I don’t.

Cashiers in clothing stores aren’t judging your style or your size. On that day they will have served people bigger than you, people smaller than you, people that look like supermodels and people who look like they like cats way too much and they haven’t judged any of them, they just want to finish their job and go home.

No one notices what you have in your shopping bags. It could be toilet paper, a bong, half of the McDonalds menu, it doesn’t matter. They don’t notice.

The bus driver isn’t mad because you didn’t know where to take the ticket from or didn’t have the perfect change.

The guy you buy your train ticket from doesn’t care about you giving him the right change, it doesn’t bother him if you ask about where you need to go and the person behind you didn’t notice that you took a second too long to pick up your ticket.

No one notices how loud your chewing of popcorn is in the cinema.

The people in queues behind you aren’t watching your every move and thinking about how you’re standing, talking or how long its taking you to do something, they’re thinking about what they’re about to buy or what they’re having for lunch.

I hope its helped a little, maybe try to keep some of these in mind next time you’re out and about and feeling a little nervous. Maybe it’ll take a while for you to feel even a little bit comfortable but i know that if you try you can get there because you are more than strong enough.

-Dana