'I deliberately put myself in embarrassing situations - this is why'

A woman is on a mission to conquer her intense fear of rejection by deliberately taking on embarrassing challenges – saying it’s helping her become “immune to embarrassment”.

Sophie Jones always felt held back by her phobia of rejection and cared deeply about what others thought of her. The 22-year-old, from Warrington, then read about ‘rejection therapy', a method which aims to reduce sensitivity to rejection by regularly facing uncomfortable situations.

Embracing the idea, Sophie embarked on a 30-day rejection therapy challenge, deliberately seeking out scenarios where she was likely to be rejected.

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Among her bold attempts, Sophie has asked to sing on stage at a theatre, requested a tour of a supermarket warehouse and even tried to take a pizza from a stranger's shopping trolley – being met by rejection each time.

The social media manager said: "I decided to do this after I went to film a dance in the park and realised the idea of doing it in front of people would terrify me.

"The challenge is about knowing you can do a silly thing and desensitising yourself to fear and judgement.

"It applies to all aspects of life - imagine what you could do if you didn't hold yourself back and could push yourself out your comfort zone.

"I'm noticing little changes already. For my TikTok I often have to push myself out my comfort zone to do comedy videos and it can make me anxious.

"But I filmed one today and I didn't even feel anxiety. Everyone was looking at me but I wasn't bothered. It felt really freeing not caring."

Sophie comes up with ideas for her challenges herself or by searches on social media for similar challenges others have done, saying the most difficult challenge so far has been asking to look around the supermarket warehouse.

It was so anxiety-inducing for her that she was nervous to continue the challenge the following day, Cheshire Live reports.

But she pushed on and continued - as that's the point of the challenge. "When I first started, I was terrified - but that showed I needed to do it," she added.

Sophie has only been doing the daily challenges for a week - but said she's already noticing a difference in her mindset. "I'm realising it's never as bad as you think it will be, and the world will keep turning," she said. "I'd recommend the challenge to others - it's scary but when you push past the fear you feel more confident."

Ideas for future challenges include going into a bed store and asking to have a nap, asking to slide down a fireman's pole, and asking strangers if she can try on their sunglasses.