[Beowulf]

Hi Everyone, first post and I feel like I am being drawn here to ask for advice.

To set the context I am someone who, throughout the majority of my adult working life, have been confident and have generally found it easy to progress in the companies I have worked for. I have previously worked in sales and am currently work for a consultancy that requires me to spend a lot of time dealing with people.

The issue started about 6 months ago when I ran into a few problems with a job I was working on and came into some harsh criticism from the client I was working for. The criticism was unjustified and reflected badly on this person. Consciously I was well aware of this at the time. However subconsciously I started to become slightly more nervous in my professional dealings, in particular speaking to people on the phone at the office. Over a few months the problem that I had with the client sorted itself out but my nervousness with taking calls and speaking on the phone has persisted. Just recently I have found this spilling over into other relationships, even those with people I have known for years.

I am not naturally inclined to open up about my feelings with others but this is starting to affect my non-working life and would appreciate any thoughts or advice on this.