It's worth a shot. However, my therapist thinks my social anxiety stems from some kind of chemical imbalance, which the medication helps.

Im sure he does. Im not big on therapists, they bring you in for 15 minutes and send you on your way with a prescription. Im much more of a believer in psychologists.

Try it for 30 days, write out things that you want to achieve and read them daily. Things like I mentioned for speaking. See what happens.

The degree of frustration you're feeling is likely a result of how you ' frame ' what you are doing.

If you are as ' out of shape ' ( as you claim ) then becoming ' winded and dripping with sweat after 10 minutes on an elliptical ' should not be a major source of frustration for you IMO. If anything, being winded and dripping with sweat is not at all unexpected from someone who is ' out of shape ' - if anything, it is more likely to be expected and an entirely normal experience. You get ' winded and dripping with sweat after 10 minutes on an elliptical ' and you seem to somehow draw a negative connotation from the experience as though being winded and dripping with sweat is frustrating you from reaching your goal. It isn't. It is simply part of what you have to experience as a normal part of slowly getting in shape. Getting winded and dripping with sweat may feel lousy and it may be hard, but trust me, it's as normal as normal can be.

Keep in mind, the key to success and staying motivated is to have realistic expectations and to be able to manage those expectations - and - to ask yourself within the context of those expectations if the frustration you are feeling is really ' appropriate / rationale frustration '. In my view, if you ' frame ' your expectations to be such that even though you are ' out of shape ' it is NOT reasonable to experience being winded or sweating after 10 minutes, I would say this is an unrealistic / irrational expectation, and by extension, the frustration at not being able to meet this unrealistic expectation is inappropriate and equally as irrational.

If, as an ' out of shape ' beginner, you experience ' winded and dripping with sweat after 10 minutes - then this is a realistic expectation. There is no need to feel frustrated when this occurs because this is what you should have been anticipating. Also, as an ' out of shape ' beginner, it is a realistic expectation that training is going to be hard - so when it feels hard ( i.e winded, sweating, boring, etc. etc. ), this should be no reason to feel frustrated either.

So, as far as tips go, one tip is .... I think you need to give yourself a break, put things in proper context/ expectations and mentally prepare to concede some realities.....i.e

- I'm out of shape
- being winded and sweating is normal and should be expected when out of shape
- it took me a long time to get this out of shape, it is going to take a long time to get back in great shape ( i.e it won't happen overnight )
- other people in the gym who are in great shape may have a huge head start on me ( months / years )...they were once where I am now.
- training and developing new habits is hard - not bad or unpleasant - just hard
- etc. etc.

Yo prism i have the same feelings as you sometimes and this constant mind frame that i was in that people judged me and seen that i was skinny and lanky looking and had bad posture and my adams apple all stuck out made my ability to be my self and comunicate to other people properly hence i was not very atractive and my personality was **** towards other people because of the hesitation. but in a way society is like that these days...its rather fuked up!!! but the best freaking thing you can do about this man is hit that gym and eat properly and know that your puting every effort into changing this if your like me you want to go to the gym and you want to drain the fark outa everything and when you leave you feel so good about it

Part of your frustration may stem from the fact that you aren't getting meaningful feedback in the context of a concrete goal. Concrete goals are vital IMO.

In your case, you have to be more specific about what the goal of " being fit " means to you. For example, does it mean....

- losing ' x ' inches off your waist
- dropping ' x ' pounds of fat
- being able to to ' x ' crunches or push-ups, etc. etc.
- being able to walk/ jog for ' x ' distance or ' x ' amount of time

...you get the idea. Lets' start with your goals.

What fitness goals would you like to achieve over the next year ( and be specific as you can - something you can ' measure ' is ideal ) ?

As for quantifiable goals, I'd like to reduce my waist size and my body fat percentage. I'm not so concerned with my actual weight. I'd just like to transfer it from fat weight to muscle weight. To be honest I haven't actually set any numbers either. I guess I just wanted to begin the process. My personal trainer took all my measurements on my first session so I know where I start out at. I just wanted to see those numbers start to move in the right direction.

Hey prism, when I first went started going to the gym, I would stick to those machines they had, because I felt weak, and was afraid to do any real exercises like bench press, squats, etc. I thought people would look at me and make judgements on how puny I was. Then I realized that I don't care what they think. I went into the gym with the attitude that I had goals I wanted to attain, and no one was going to stop me from getting there. I started benching a ridiculously low amount because I had no muscle, but thats not what mattered. I figured that the other people in the gym could think what they want, but I just pictured the day when I showed up at the gym an was benching more than them, and all they could do is stand there in awe. Hasn't happened yet, but I'm on my way.

However, I have found that when you go to the gym, if you respect others, they will respect you, and realized that everyone is there for their own reasons. Whether you are bulking up or slimming down, everyone is going somewhere. You may even find that the people want to help you reach your goals.

Good Luck!