First found seddit a couple of years back after a LTR. Since then I've been on a steady course of improvement. Hitting the gym, finding my style, moving abroad, holding a job after long term employment and walking the path of self discovery.

Yet the biggest challenges I faced remained untouched. I avoided them then and occasionally still do. The biggest of which is AA.

Over the last few weeks I've decided that I've had enough and started reading books on Anxiety to understand it deeper.

One book, 'The Shyness and social anxiety workbook', had me rate a number of different experiences out of 100. First, how anxious I felt when doing the activity and second, how often I would avoid that activity.

It was interesting to note that my avoidance was about 70. So 3/10 girls I would approach. It's easier to understand on a sliding scale rather than a 0 or 1.

My anxiety during was about 80. But that has been lowering as I've been doing exposure therapy.

My daily goal is 1 a day. Once per day I aim to approach and anything else is a bonus. I'm not our for numbers, just a friendly chat and then I'm on my way.

Now here's where I've found my big leaps in progress. I'm more relaxed, been getting more looks my way and feeling more and more comfortable.

Aproaches are becoming more natural. To go from look to smile to short convo to hug. This huge hole in my game is being filled in.

I'm meeting more and more people in my city and practicing my Japanese everyday.

My AA numbers are still fairly high though I hope to get them reduced significantly in a few months time. Finding now that I can feel when I feel the anxiety better and distance myself, after all it's just a couple of numbers.

So I'm interested in where your AA numbers are. Mine are Ax:80 Av:70.

This was my big hurdle in my game. What has been yours and what steps are you taking to overcome it?