More Phone Anxiety

[Gary1450]

Do you guys put off making phone calls most of the time or do you just jump into it?

I have to call my regional office now and I'm nervous as hell.

I just practice my deep breathing before picking up the phone.

[Gary1450]

Just got done making the phone call - not as bad as I thought - the breathing exercises really help.

Still got lots of work to you.

[Asif]

Hehe:
I can just imagine the phone, sitting there like a beast from hell, waiting to annihilate the unwary.
A malevolent thing, the phone!
I sometimes look at it and laugh. Funny how such a modern "convenience" can be so damned INconvenient :)
Asif.

[alok daga]

hi asif
its the same case with me..even i feel that the beast called phone is not made for ppl like us...
i walk upto ppl and talk to them personally even if they are floors above my desk. i just cant pick up the phone and converse....its real painful...
i cant relate to that

[alok daga]

hi gary
whats the breathing exercise all about???

[Asif]

The "breathing exercise"?
It goes like this...
"You put your left leg out,
Your right leg out...
You do the Okey Cokey and you turn about...
You do the Okey Cokey and you turn about,
That's what it's all about...
OH! Okey okey Cokey....
OH! Okey okey Cokey...
OH! Okey okey Cokey...
Knees bent, arms out, rah rah rah."
That's what the Brits do, anyway :)
Asif.

[Gary1450]

Today was another bad day on the phone - I'm starting to block really bad and I don't know why.

I've always had trouble but nothing like this.

[alok daga]

Just got done making the phone call - not as bad as I thought - the breathing exercises really help.

Still got lots of work to you.

hi gary
what are the breathing exercises that u r talking about? can u please share it with us?

[Gary1450]

It's basically just deep breathing exercises used to calm me down before I have to make a phone call like what Asif said on the Breathing 101 thread.

[pikaia]

I'm so glad there are other people with the same problem as me. I have tried the breathing excercises too. Sometime it works, and most of the time it doesn't. I think it's because I get so nervous about "what if I stutter?" that I do it to myself. At Least I know some ppl who are in the same boat as me... :-p

[ysy]

Yeah I'm so happy to have found this forum! Never knew so many people are on the same boat as me!

As for the phone business, I sometimes think it's pure discrimination! If you agree that having stairs in the public is discriminating to the diabled, so is asking people to make phone calls discriminating to the stuttering people! :mad:

[Asif]

Well: live with it.
Nobody is suddenly going to start being overly concerned about us trying to deal with phone calls.
But we can get better over time.
I can remember how angry and resentful I used to get about phones and the absolute necessity of using them just to survive in this crazy society.
Asif.

[Gary1450]

I've been doing better on the phone lately by just relaxing, talking slower and calming down.

I used to panic at the sound of the phone (I mean really panic). Now I approach it more rationally.