Hey everyone. Just wanted to add my two cents for how I busted AA.

So I'd suffered from AA for years. Decades, actually. I couldn't make eye contact with strangers, and if I did, my eyes would immediately dart away. I tried to make a game out of it, but I'd still lose consistently, it was almost automatic.

But then I put myself in a situation where I was forced to adapt.

One of my skills lies in writing, and the fact that I have a sexy damn voice. So, a friend of mine convinced me to get up on stage at an open mic (which she also hosts) and perform a story reading. Something I would never have had the guts to volunteer for.

The first day I went up, I was a nervous wreck. I was sweating profusely, my hands shook, my knees vibrated and I stared at the wall the entire time, but I managed to get through it.

The next week, she asked me to do it again. So I did.

This time was different. I was no longer shaking, and the moment I started speaking into the mic, I did something unexpected. Rather than stare at the wall, I decided instead to actually speak to the PEOPLE in the room rather than the wall. I made eye contact with every last person in the room, just so they were sure I was reading to them.

At the end of it, I walked away and felt like a million bucks. I'm now a regular at open mic, and I've noticed that my stage fright is almost entirely gone. As a result, I also have little problem making (and holding) eye contact with strangers, and I have much less anxiety and much more presence in my day-to-day life.

TL;DR: Go to an open mic. Sing a song. Read a poem, a story. Do a comedy skit or make some crafts out of day-old bagels and show them to the world. Be silly, be talkative, and AA will start to leech away like it was never even there.