I want advice from people that aren’t afraid to go out by themselves, like I want to start going places alone like cafes and bookstores and whatever but anxiety says no. Please tell me how you do it if you do.”
This recent tweet clearly struck a chord, garnering more than 200,000 likes and 10,000 replies. Advice came thick and fast in the comments, written by people who had overcome their own demons when going about their business alone: “Take Airpods and a book”; “Start by going to a movie alone”; “Practise what you’re going to say if a stranger comes up and asks you what you’re doing”; and, my personal favourite, “Pretend everyone around you is just a Sim in a video game. NPCs. Filler people.”
