Oftentimes we’ve had a stressful day, and we’re feeling anxious. We’ll try to go out with her friends to spend some time. But what happens when those friends are the ones that give us anxious feelings?
This can be frustrating and hard to understand, especially if these are the people that you hold dearest to you.
But this is quite common because even with your friends, it doesn’t mean there aren’t things about them that are because of your stress. But, of course, it cannot be about them. It could be about your surrounding environment and how your life is going at the current moment.
Either way, whatever the reason is that you’re feeling anxious, it can make you feel very bad, especially since these are your friends. So let’s take a look at why your friends might be making you anxious and potentially some ways you could solve the problem.
Is This Common?
Naturally, relationships will ebb and flow, and personalities will grow and change. However, there’s also the external factor of stressors from work and other aspects of your life encroaching in on your friendships.
So it’s not uncommon for friendships to go through phases where there’s anxiety or stress present.
If it’s occasionally, that’s not a big problem, but if it happens regularly, then these issues need to be addressed. There is a factor in some sort of stressor that is causing you this anxiety.
To save your friendship, it should be addressed, and maybe by addressing it, the issue will disappear.
What is the Cause of It?
Just like with anything, several factors play a part in any type of anxiety. Regarding your friends, they are no different than those that cause anxiety with perfect strangers or workplace problems.
Here are a few reeling anxious about spending time with your friends:
- Negative experiences: Even the best friends go through situations that make each other uncomfortable.
If you’ve had an interaction with them that perhaps didn’t come out the way you expected or caused some sort of confrontation, spending time with them may make you anxious for fear that the experience will end.
- New people: Maybe your friends are trying to introduce new people to your social circle, and change is not something you’re good with.
This can cause anxiety, especially if once the person has been introduced, you realize that your personalities don’t match and you don’t get along.
- Body image issues: For those of you who may have some body image issues, maybe you feel anxious because those you hang out with don’t have the same image issues as you.
This can cause anxiety because you feel out of place and awkward due to your lack of self-confidence.
- Personalities: Sometimes, even though you love them as friends, there are things about their personality that just rub you the wrong way. Maybe they overpromise stuff, or they are a little bit braggy when it comes to their accomplishments.
Even though you get along, for the most part, this may still make you feel anxious because you don’t necessarily like that part of their personality.
What Does It Mean?
It doesn’t necessarily mean anything unless it’s something that you can’t address. For example, most of you feel anxious to see friends, but it’s not necessarily about them.
It’s more about your feelings. So addressing your feelings and why you feel anxious could eventually solve the problem.
If it is more about their personality, then it should be something that you talk to your friends about. It doesn’t have to mean that you have some issues that you need to work out amongst your friends, and that should build a stronger relationship.
Should You Stop Hanging Out?
The question of whether you should stop hanging out with them or not is a personal decision. First, you have to weigh how important that relationship is to you. If it’s something that you feel is vital to your life, then you should address the issues and try to fix them.
However, if a relationship is becoming a stress point for you and after addressing it, nothing changes, then perhaps it might be time to give your friends a little bit of a break.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cut ties with them, but maybe a little time apart could fix the problem.
How Can You Stop Being Anxious Around My Friends?
In order to save your friendship and help your mental health, you may want to try to figure out how to stop being anxious around your friends. There are a couple of different ways, and here are a few tips that we suggest you try out:
- You have to identify what’s happening so that you can address the pain points that are causing you anxiety.
- Once you’ve identified these situations, you need to address the issue directly and positively.
- Instead of placing the blame on the other person, make sure you use the I statement, so you’re talking about how you feel.
- If I list fills and nothing occurs, you can always reach out to a professional to help you figure out what exactly is creating this anxiety.
Final Thoughts on Why Do Your Friends Give You Anxiety
The truth is no matter how close you are to someone, and there will always be moments where you may be a little bit stressed out or anxious when you’re around them. So if it’s something that consistently happens, you need to identify and address it.
But if it’s something that happens once or twice, it’s best just to go with the flow because losing a friendship is not worth it unless it’s a consistent problem.