When I was in middle school, I saw a kid climb a big ass pine tree on a dare. He made it about halfway up, when the bark stipped or something, and he came plummeting down. He got hurt pretty bad, and had to be taken to the hospital. Now months later, the guy saw me hanging out alone, and asked me if I wanted to hang out. i had no friends, so I said sure. We walked home together, because we lived in the same area. At one point, he said he knew a shortcut, and that it involved jumping over a fence into an alleyway. The fence was about 2 meters high, but we both climbed it easily. Once over the top, he easily jumped off. But I, I was frozen in fear. Heights terrify me. I sat on the top, and slowly eased myself down, so that it was even less than 2 meters from my feet to the ground, but it still scared me stiff. I have never ever had any big fall, but there I was, paralyzed by a simple jump that my friend did without a second thought. He, who had fallen and broken his wrist breaking his fall, had absolutely no fear. My fear was not the result of any traumatic experience, or anything logical, it was just the innate instinctive caution near heights that all animals have, but turned up to an unhealthy degree. That's what social anxiety is. Humans evolved to live in groups. But members of the group that caused too much trouble were cast out to fend for themselves, or denied a mate. So the ones that had a shame function had a better chance of staying in the tribe, and therefore survive to pass on their genes. Social Anxiety is likely that same shame function, but turned up to an unhealthy degree. <|endoftext|> 