I had an extremely socially anxious experience yesterday with a friend who is very outgoing and extroverted. I was feeling overwhelmed, over-stimulated and feeling like I was unable to connect with anyone. Everything felt serious, eye contact felt impossibly scary and because of how slow it felt like my brain was moving making any kind of small talk also felt impossible.

My friend took how I was acting personally and told me he was worried that I was having a hard time because of something he did. I assured him it was not personal at all and instead it was just my “normal” social anxiety. I tried explaining what I was feeling (like I just did above) to him but he seemed confused and I was having a hard time clarifying.

So has anyone found a good way to describe what it’s like to be have extreme social anxiety to someone who doesn’t experience it?

tldr: I had an overwhelming social anxiety filled experience with an extroverted friend and had a hard time clarifying how I was feeling. Have you found a good way to describe it?