I think it's important to honor your path. I'm not very social by nature, but going through a burst of it atm. lol. Can you describe the barriers? I'm in no means a professional though, so that's my caveat, just highly opinionated.
I can relate to the unconscious reaction while projecting...say for example, a while ago, I expanded out to fill the room, so not really an OBE, both aware of myself lying in bed physically, but also, encompassing the bedroom. I played around in expanding more, but everytime, I tried to expand past the barriers of my bedroom, I felt intense fear. I lacked the insight to determine the root cause, but as I experimented, it definitely occurred repeatedly as I tried to "spread out," but didn't arise if I focused into a smaller point travelling around my bedroom, or collapsed into a smaller point around my body. For some reason, I wasn't able to create a wormhole/door/whatever, to project out.

So, yeah, I feel like I can relate, but can only wish you well on your path as am still working on the same thing too.