Hello, new member here. Just wanted to share an issue I've been having and maybe if you have a piece of advice or you could share your story you could help.
I work remotely for the past few years, with people from different countries, we only communicate by mail and that's something I chose. When someone asked to call or do a video call I always politely declined, with a reasonable excuse. (time zone differences, having a written mail for reference for the job etc)
The real reason though is my anxiety. I dread having to call a stranger. Partly because I think I have a terrible accent and I fear I won't communicate well (I'm not native English speaker) and I won't be able to express my thoughts correctly so one would assume I'm not an expert in my field or a professional.
The other issue is with some clients wanting to meet in person by coming to my city. Literally I feel covid saved me because a client came to a near city but we couldn't meet because of the situation.
I fear when we meet they will be disappointed, they will think I'm not what they thought I was and may not want to work with me again.
I have gained a lot of weight in 2020 due to a surgery, wasn't allowed to any form of exercise for months and then because of quarantine, I turned to food for comfort. Recipe for disaster.
I'm working towards getting better physically but my confidence is in its lowest point ever. I don't want to meet anyone new at this point, just want to hide until I'm back where I was physically a year ago. People I already know comment on how much weight I put on and this is making things worse, so naturally I assume a stranger would have the same reaction, thinking I'm lazy and focusing on how I look instead of what I can do.
Any advice welcome...
I work remotely for the past few years, with people from different countries, we only communicate by mail and that's something I chose. When someone asked to call or do a video call I always politely declined, with a reasonable excuse. (time zone differences, having a written mail for reference for the job etc)
The real reason though is my anxiety. I dread having to call a stranger. Partly because I think I have a terrible accent and I fear I won't communicate well (I'm not native English speaker) and I won't be able to express my thoughts correctly so one would assume I'm not an expert in my field or a professional.
The other issue is with some clients wanting to meet in person by coming to my city. Literally I feel covid saved me because a client came to a near city but we couldn't meet because of the situation.
I fear when we meet they will be disappointed, they will think I'm not what they thought I was and may not want to work with me again.
I have gained a lot of weight in 2020 due to a surgery, wasn't allowed to any form of exercise for months and then because of quarantine, I turned to food for comfort. Recipe for disaster.
I'm working towards getting better physically but my confidence is in its lowest point ever. I don't want to meet anyone new at this point, just want to hide until I'm back where I was physically a year ago. People I already know comment on how much weight I put on and this is making things worse, so naturally I assume a stranger would have the same reaction, thinking I'm lazy and focusing on how I look instead of what I can do.
Any advice welcome...
The more I looked at it that way, the better I got when on the phone. I simply slowed myself down. Took a deep breath. Relaxed. Spoke when I was ready. I even began to do this outside of the house too. The stutter vanished. More I spoke, the better I became at it. The phone one you can try that. Think of the fact that you don't even have to see a face. Even make up what you think they might look like. In a funny sort of way. Just to relax yourself.