Do You Rehearse Conversations In Your Head Before They Happen?

[Fightingback]

Many people with social anxiety spend time planning what they're going to say before a meeting, phone call, social event or even a simple conversation.

Do you find yourself rehearsing conversations beforehand?

And does it usually help, or does it sometimes make you feel even more anxious?

Share your experiences below.

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[Getting_There]

I think most people probably do this to some extent, don't they?

Whether it's a job interview, a difficult conversation, meeting someone new or even ordering something over the phone, I suspect a lot of us run through possible scenarios in our heads beforehand.

The difference seems to be how much time we spend doing it and how much it affects us. For some people it can be a quick mental rehearsal, while for others it can become exhausting because every possible outcome gets analysed.

I've certainly caught myself thinking through conversations before they happen, only for the actual conversation to go in a completely different direction anyway!

Sometimes a bit of preparation helps, but I can also see how it could make anxiety worse if you end up overthinking every word before you've even had the conversation.

I'm curious whether people find that rehearsing makes them feel more confident, or whether it just gives their anxiety more material to work with.