How Going Sober Forced Me To Face My Social Anxiety

For more than a decade, I thought I was fearless in social situations. Not just comfortable. Fearless. I would swan into restaurant openings alone, glide past the media wall, smile for photos, then wander into rooms full of strangers and somehow always leave with a handful of new friends, a business card or two, and a story worth retelling. Movie premieres, beauty lunches, launch parties — I did it all without much thought. I never rehearsed conversation starters or worried about…