I get anxious going to expensive restaurants, luxury hotels, malls, or places where people seem rich, polished
i’m a 24 year old guy from a middle class background in india and i’ve realized i have a deep fear of high class environments. i’m posting this because i genuinely want to understand myself and improve. whenever i go to expensive restaurants, luxury hotels, cafes, malls, or places where people seem rich and fluent in english, i start feeling anxious and uncomfortable. my biggest fear is that someone will suddenly talk to me in fluent english, i won’t understand properly, i’ll panic speak broken english or gibberish and they’ll silently judge me as uneducated or low standard. the strange thing is i can actually afford many of these places and experiences financially but mentally i always feel like i don’t belong there. i still remember when i went to a mall around age 20 and got scared to step onto an escalator because i had never used one before. my friends laughed at me and i felt embarrassed, like i was some village guy who didn’t know basic things. even now that memory still affects me. sometimes i feel like people in expensive places can immediately tell that i come from a middle class family that i didn’t grow up around elite environments. because of that i automatically assume they will look down on me. i know some of this may sound irrational but the fear feels very real physically. i start overthinking becoming self conscious, nervous, and feeling like everyone is judging me.has anyone else experienced this kind of fear? is this social anxiety, inferiority complex, class insecurity, lack of exposure, or something else? and most importantly, how do i overcome this and become comfortable in environments that feel above my level?