Social anxiety was my lemon. Using technology to gain social comfort was my lemonade.

The company I work for was in the process of moving to another city and merging with another company. The company I work for takes very good care of me. They love me. And I love them. Well, when I heard we were merging with another company, I was scared. Not necessarily scared for my job. I was scared of fitting in socially. I have Asperger’s. I do struggle socially in some aspects, and I’m not good at hiding certain behaviours. My boss knows and she is so accommodating to me. She actually helps me use it to my advantage. Whenever something was troubling me and I didn’t have a chance to talk to my boss about it, I would email her on my personal account to her personal account. I emailed her lots about how scared I was with the merge. She assured me multiple times that nothing bad would happen to me and that she would protect me. I also had to deal with my boss working at the other company more than with us. I was helped by my receptionist to take comfort in the fact that my boss didn’t have to worry about us doing our jobs. She didn’t have to worry about us. My boss has helped me through a lot at work and personally. We had a “meet and greet” barbecue dinner at the other company’s old building to sort of break the ice. I went outside my comfort zone and tried to strike up conversations with those from the other company.

Well, we were the first to move into the new building. I instantly fell in love with the new place, even though it meant a longer bus commute, which I was prepared for. A month later, the other company came. I tried my best to put my fears aside. I work in accounting, but I also deal with IT issues as well due to being raised around computers. I get it from my mom. So, along with helping move boxes and stuff, I, on my own, decided to introduce myself to the people from the other company by setting up all their computers and printers. Technology helped me allay my anxiety because I am very comfortable in a technological context no matter whom I am dealing with. My boss was impressed with me for thinking of this all by myself. And, the one person I was worried about the most in the other company loved me and said I was very smart and articulate. That totally killed all my anxiety, and the people here are awesome to work with!

It’s been a few months, and I’ve never had any issues with the people from the other company. They all love me! I worried over nothing! I feel so much better now! I created my own anxiety in this situation, and it was up to me to get rid of this self-created stress. I had some help along the way, but I feel a great sense of accomplishment that it’s all behind me now.