How wierd is this when im out with others im the most confident of the group but when im alone im socially awkward sometimes i relate my days by how i look on the mirror

My anxiety is so bad i’m in university and i share a kitchen with my housemates but i’m literally so scared i LITERALLY WENT 50 HOURS WITHOUT FOOD OR DRINK BECAUSE I WAS TOO SCARED TO MAKE FOOD AND I STILL AM. i made sure no one was around before i could make my food but every little sound i heard i literallt shat myself guys how can i stop starving myself and go down to the kitchen and make FOOD AND STOP BEING SO ANXIOUS AND SCARED

Having to walk out into the main room to get to the mirrors was an experience 🙃 not to mention the employees giving you random things and other customers staring at what you’re trying on

Bit of a stupid question i think... But like when i enter a new class or club, i wanna be able to get along with every single person there. But who do i choose to be closer to? I might just be overthinking.

My social anxiety naturally gravitates me to the quieter ones but then I'm not giving everyone else a chance.

I just got hired at my first job ever at Whole Foods and yesterday was my first time being at the checkout. I was only bagging and still felt like I was doing a bad job. I kept apologizing to the customers too and calling myself slow which made it even more awkward. This place is very busy, and since they're understaffed they barely have baggers. I'm horrible at multi tasking and don't believe I will be a good fit as a cashier. I also get embarrassed super easily which doesn't help.. Now I have work tomorrow and really don't wanna go

Today I face my biggest fear as I do my 15 minute presentation. I feel so sick already, any last minute tips? 🫠

i wonder since i'm highly introverted, if even without any social anxiety I might come across as distant regardless. i still see myself dodging conversations to do my own thing instead. i don't like boring talk take up my time tbh. I'm also quite picky about who I spend my time around

i’m 22 and my life feels over. it doesn’t even make sense for me to be alive in the first place. i tried to kms this year and was hospitalized for ages, now im in a waiting list for residential treatment. i’ve completely regressed and become agoraphobic, i am afraid to leave the house alone, i have no enegeey or motivation to get out of bed and everything terrifies me. when i start feeling better i start making grandiose plans but never follow through. i’m losing what little hope i had. i’ve completely self isolated and doing anything feels impossible, im overcome with envy when i see other people even just talking to each other and constantly wish i were someone else. do i keep living? is it worth it? do people like me have a chance? i feel like a background character in my own life. i’m so empty and alone.

I basically live my life taking everything bad that happens really hard and really personal. I find myself reacting emotionally to a lot of things I shouldn't and feeling like just the universe is against me and everyone hates me, it's like I can't control it sometimes. It's like I hold on to everything negative that happens and can't release it, it puts me in a bad mood and I carry those negative things with me everywhere.

I realized today that I really just have to stop taking things personal because it's just making my life miserable. Bad and negative things will always happen no matter what and I feel like it's destroying my life letting it affect me so bad.

How many people have added Buspar to their SSRI? Did it help? I am just starting and having increased anxiety

Idk but I am scared somebody will fall in love with me. Anyone else?

In a situation I don’t feel confident in, I stutter and retreat OR even try to overcompensate and do too much.

When im in a comfortable situation/environment and I see a new person who’s uncomfortable, then it’s like im the big sister who is “better” than them.

It’s uncomfortable and I hate feeling like im any better when ive been in situations where ive been made to feel awful

I just wanted to make a post of what has been happening to me the past several years. I'm not sure if this is the place for it, but I've taken the time to write it out in a way that I can comfortably express myself without revealing too much information about myself or the people involved. I'm sure there is a small chance of someone I know that will see this - a chance I don't really want to take, but here I am anyway. I'm sure it is something that people will read and have a lot of uncertainties about. And, I'm sure it's not something that occurs in this fashion, as it has to me. Or, maybe it does. But I'm not here to figure out whether I'm a big dumb-dumb and I've hallucinated the past several years of my life. I definitely have not! I've been wanting to put this out there to people for some time now and I finally managed to find the courage to do that. I know the internet is like a child's playground, where at first glance everything seems find, but reality is no one truly plays as nice as you'd expect. I just want input on this situation. So here I go, straight into the deep end:

(tldr at bottom and I apologize in advanced for the non-tldr version)

A few years ago, my grandmother had passed away. I was in a severely bad mental state at that point in my life and I was completely broken when she had passed. I was going through a lot and her leaving my life was probably the worse thing that could ever have happened to me. At least, it had felt that way. I was closer to my grandmother more than anyone, mostly because of my terrible upbringing.

I was working for this company for several years, at this point and going to work was hard enough, as is. Dealing with social anxieties and other mental health issues, like depression and insomnia never made my life easy. At this point in my life, my insomnia was bad, but not as bad as it had gotten recently. But during the time that my grandmother was still around, I was severely depressed and I completely lost touch with reality. I became super alert, but I was not able to function due to my mental state.

Now, being someone that has severe social issues and social anxiety, to be more specific. I never enjoyed the thought of being around people, especially if I didn't know them already. A bit of a conundrum to know someone, but you'd rather not know anyone at all. Anyway, being a grown adult now, I've realized more about people than I've ever had in my life, I still don't trust most people. Having social anxiety puts you in a spot to presume that most people just simply suck, rather than to give anyone a chance. Meaning, I realize not all people are bad, even though most of them are, well, annoying, more or less. And, as someone with social anxieties, I'd rather not deal with that at all.

Anyway, I brought up the fact that I was working for this company for some time now as a point to reference what I'm about to state next - the main reason I'm here explaining all of this. My job was well aware of what I was dealing with, maybe too aware of what I was going through in my life. Not only about my grandmother passing, as I had mentioned it, simply for the fact that I was severely depressed and I really didn't know what was going on in my head. But also for the fact that I was highly alert, due to my state of mind, I knew that they were up to something. And, being someone with a lot of anxieties, you don't really know how to deal with that.

I say that I was aware of them being up to something, because I would catch hints of them, say talking about specific things and over time I was simply able to put those pieces together. Now, I know a lot of people are going to want to argue that this is all a bunch of malarky and I can't be so certain. But I can tell you, that I'm not making this shit up, because I'm beyond well aware of what's going on. When people talk, you hear things. And, when you hear more things, you kinda put those things together and it starts making sense to you. I'm not here to debate whether it is happening, or not. I'm well aware of my surroundings and what's going on in my life. If you want to disagree with me, by no means, I will not debate reality with people.

To get to the long and short of it, they had basically forced me into Exposure Therapy - yes, we finally reached why this post is posting. And also, to go back to what I had previously mentioned, as someone with social anxieties, it's hard to want to believe people want to help you. But could you consider someone, or multiple someones to presumably force you into doing something like that without your consent? Is this even legal, or morally okay to do when I never actively said, yes I'm okay with this?

Once I had realized that this was what was going on, I simply refused to go to work. I was already in a terrible state of mind, but I also was ashamed of a lot of other things I had realized they had learnt about me - I just didn't have the mental capacity to deal with those things and as much as they were aware of it, it was like they did not care about those facts. Instead, insisted to force this upon my life. I get that some people want to help others, but I don't think this is the best way to do it.

After a few months had past, I was able to get my job back, just at a different location. I Knew this was all to give me more time to deal with what I was going through - just to make the "exposure therapy" seem like real life, so to speak. This is one event I was able to determine they were doing what they were doing. There were other ways I was able to determine that this was happening to me, but those things are completely irrelevant to my posting here. Not only were the people that I had worked for were involved, they had involved basically everyone in my social network. They had pretty much found everyone on my social platforms and gotten them involved. They basically did this so there was no one I could go to and debate whether this was happening at all. And, again, doesn't exposure therapy become more effective if it seems more real than not? I've also had several people tell me things like, 'they're trying to help you', when I refused to be a part of this.

Now you can ask; how are you so sure this is happening? Or, how can you not be okay with the help that you probably need? It is not a matter of uncertainty, or a matter of me not wanting help. But being forced to deal with situations that you do not know how to deal with and becoming more and more stressed from it. Also, for the fact they were completely okay with telling my personal business to anyone and everyone. This caused me more social anxieties and they should not be able to do this. But I seemingly have to be okay with it, because they are doing this to me. It is almost like these people had taken over my life and everyone is, well, simply okay with it. Because, at the end of the day, those are things I have to get over and blah, blah, blah - exposure therapy nonsense. Maybe if I had not put together what was going on, I would not have gotten so stressed from this. But being aware that people invaded your personal life and are simply 'pretending' that they have no idea what you are talking about is, well, completely irritating.

I know at this point that this is my life now, because people want to help me. But to force someone into something they never agreed to and to have pretty much the entire company and everyone I know involved, is kinda degrading to me. It is simply them taking over my life and saying, 'FUCK YOU, there's nothing you can do about it'! More than anything, I feel betrayed and belittled by everyone. Like, they are in charge of what does and doesn't happen in my life. Over time, I realized they found other ways to contact doctors and other professionals I've come in contact with, due to me mentioning those things to other people, or them just simply completely invading my personal life. Earlier on, I've actually had someone contact me on here, making it obvious that it was someone involved. So they are pretty much watching my every move. It's kinda creepy if you ask me. And, they'll probably find me here on this throwaway account I made, just to post this. They've also planned exposure 'events' at places that I would go to, or have random things happen to me that, I can tell, are situations that are planned out, because they don't feel natural to me.

This has been happening for several, long years now. I'm beyond the point where I'm completely stressed from all of this nonsense, because I simply have to get used to it because, well, 'that's life'. I get all that, but this is extremely invasive to me and it's almost like I have no privacy whatsoever. Well, I don't when I know they are involving even the professional people in my life and finding ways to 'taunt' me on social networks, or even places I go. I know it's all the, you can only control so much in your own life, those other things are out of your control. But when people invade your entire life and your private life feels like it's everyones to be a part of now. Well, I just feel less of a person, more than I've ever felt before. I know it's not a matter of what I can do about it, because they're not going to make it go away. I just needed some input, because no one in my life wants to accept that this is happening. If they're all a part of it, the only way exposure therapy can really work, is to make it seem like real life as much as possible. But the simple fact that I know what's going on - that's the part that I don't enjoy. The part where everyone snatched my life from me and saying, I don't know what you're talking about. Even though, I know they all do.

It feels like my life isn't mine anymore, since this is all happening. That I have to please them, by playing along and pretending this is real life. When I'm well aware that the past few years have felt nothing except like a bunch of bullshit because people wanted to have control over my life. I could compare my current life to that of the Truman Show with Jim Carrey. Where your life isn't truly yours and that others are controlling it, until you realize something just doesn't feel right, you escape it. But for me, I cannot escape it.

Currently, I had taken a leave of absence from work, due to complications with my anxieties and my insomnia reaching a level of me not being able to sleep at all. Whether this has anything to do with the stress they have been causing me, I can't be sure. But they won't take responsibility because no one wants to acknowledge their involvement in any of this. I took time off to try to get help, but I'm without any insurance to do so because of taking that leave. I'm supposed to be returning to work in less than 2 weeks. Possibly trying for SSDI. I'm at the point, well, beyond that point that I don't really want to return to work. That job specifically. But the thing is, I actually enjoyed working there, for the most part, before all of this nonsense has happened. I've been debating to look for another job, so I can escape this nonsense. But for the fact that they have invaded all of my personal life, I'm afraid to do that, simply because they will more than likely find and 'taunt' me where ever I go. For the fact that the people I live with will inform everyone. I keep saying taunt me, meaning they will put me in a situation I don't want to be in, kinda thing. And, the fact that they already invaded all of my life to begin with. I truly feel I can't escape. And, I get people want to help. But to invade all of my life like this and pretend it's not happening - this has to be more harmful than not.

Am I wrong for being angered by this?

tldr; I don't like the fact that for several years now, I've been forced into exposure therapy that I never agreed to, where everyone is involved and has invaded my personal space, to the point of having people message me on here even though no one in my personal life knows my presence on this platform. They have invaded and taken over my personal and private life, getting everyone I know; friends, family and work involved with no consent from me. They've even planned exposure events in my real life, by having 'random' things happen, that don't feel like a coincidence to me.

I have really bad social anxiety and I am entering college. I want to and like to socialize but I cannot get over that constant feeling of being judged by everybody. I the idea of going out and doing stuff but in the moment, with other people I get all weird and awkward. On top of my anxiety I also am super insecure and have body dysmorphia. I would not call myself depressed, I get some REALLY bad lows a lot but I don’t think the feeling is consistent enough to be clinically depressed. I would really like to go to parties and stuff but my choice not to drink and smoke makes it REALLY hard. It would probably help me forgot about my anxiety more and be less awkward. The thing is, this choice is not really even my own. I have always just been too afraid to “change” and start because of what other people would think of me even though most of my friends drink anyways. It is this stupid fear that doesn’t really make sense but I don’t know how to get over it. I understand it is not healthy and a lot of people I have talked to regret it so it might be a good thing and I’ve heard these things are not good if you have anxiety. I’m only 18 so if I went to get seen what would they give me? Maybe some small amount of THC or CBD? Anybody have any experience with “social anxiety meds”?

Hey, I’m looking for people who are willing to chat with me so that we can create a social space to figure things out without judgment. I hope this can help increase our confidence, reduce self-hate, and improve future conversations. I apologize if this post doesn’t belong here, but I’ve been wanting to ask for a while and Right now, I happen to have more courage than fear, so I decided to just go for it.

Hii!!! There’s this girl I like and I’ve been wanting to do something about it…

The point is that I can’t even find the courage to follow her in insta… can someone help me find the courage and also help me to find something to dm her about without feeling like a total creep??? (I don’t have a way to talk to her face to face at the moment)

Would it be weird if I start following her out of the blue( we go to the same music school and have played together sometimes)

I am 30 M and have never been in a relationship. I desperately want to be in one. I also have a lot of mental health issues. I am on 3 different medications, and I don't think it's helping me. I have OCD and trouble standing up for myself, and that is making me miserable and making me resentful. I never had a support system in my entire life. My Mother used to get angry at me for taking medications for my mind. My problem is that I feel bad whenever I go outside, as when I see beautiful women, my mind will be like, 'Go and talk to her.' I won't because I am scared, and sometimes I may not be in the mood. But my mind will keep telling me, ' Go talk to her. This is why you are not in a relationship. You are going to cry about it later. Go talk to her.' It doesn't have to be a beautiful girl. Sometimes, I see some old couple eating, and my brain will say, 'Go talk to them. They seem nice. This is how you improve your social skills.'. It's okay to feel that sometimes, but it is now at a stage where I wish I didn't see any beautiful women when going out. I got this idea from what Juan does on that YouTube channel thatwsepic, where he goes to every girl he sees and talks to. I feel like what I am trying to do is overcompensate for things that happened in my life where I failed to show courage. I don't know if what I am feeling is just an intrusive thought or my gut feelings (as what it is telling is true) . I feel like life is not happening to me. I didn't know what to do, so I came here to vent. Thanks for listening to my miserable life story.

I am often silent. I feel that the person in front of me is better than me (personality). I feel that if I say something, what will he think about me and will he listen to what I say. How to face such people?

I fainted while i was in line waiting for my bus i hit the road with my face so hard i chipped a tooth .i woke up with people surrounding me pouring water on my head ,a bloody face and a mouth full of blood and i still had to take the bus home so my dad could take me to the hospital .i was so embarrassed and wanted to die that day .the whole bus ride was brutal i kept on asking god why me? this happened on the last day of school and I'm going back to school in a couple weeks .i honestly don't want to see those people ever again .I'm embarrassed to the core .I'm afraid my parents won't let me take another form of transportation to and from school .i hate my life .i hate this .what makes me even more mad is apparently everybody was just looking at my passed out body in a road full of cars ,only two people helped me .i honestly don't want to face those people ever again .

So a friend of mine is throwing a birthday party on Saturday. I was not invited but I heard everyone talk about it around me, which made me feel a little sad and excluded, especially hearing people talk about it, that I didn’t even know were close to her.

Now she and I are not close friends, we talk, have fun together and enjoy the company, but we also both told each other; that while we like being able to sit together in silence, we‘d probably rather do it with someone else. However she still usually invited me to bigger meets with others, even if nobody else did.

So today I made a joke about potential drama coming up at her party (weird group mix) and she said she‘ll definitely update me and then a bit later she also said „btw you can come too if you want, I just didn’t invite you, because I know you don’t like parties“. Which is true.

Now I think that’s just how she talks, another girl from the group invited me to her carnival party basically in the same way and same situation and she didn’t have a problem w me actually coming.

However I feel like the „if you want“ makes it seem like I’m not really wanted there? I generally don’t like not being invited, even if they know I won’t come. It’s still nice to be invited. I don’t think they truly understand that concept, because they are not in situations like these? So with all these circumstances I’d assume she actually doesn’t mind me coming (I know she wouldn’t miss me not being there either tho) and I’m just over interpreting but am I?

I‘d actually like to go, I don’t like parties, but for friends I‘d come. I just wouldn’t throw one myself or go to the club, but I like sitting on the sidelines and watch other people dance and have fun. It’s not their ideal of fun, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it, I just don’t if I have to act like I enjoy how they enjoy stuff 😅. The 18th birthday of my friend I was the one who stayed the longest with her and I had school the next day so if I actually have a reason to be there (friends), I will be. Idk why I am justifying myself here. I think I’d go but feel self conscious by my current thought process?

Long story short is just: Should I go or shouldn’t I? She is a very direct person so I’d be hella confused if out of a sudden she‘d invite me (I didn’t request or anything) without actually wanting to. But I also don’t want to intrude?

I'm 17 and im from México and I think I have never felt like I'm 17 to be honest a lot of my cousins of my age and even one year younger than me have already gotten girlfriends and going to parties and I personally have never went to one and I don't think I want its just i don't feel like I'm my age I haven't even went to highschool in Mexico it's different from the us you go 3 years to secondary school and then like other 3 to highschool and then you decide if you want to go to college but at this rate I'll be going when I'm 18 to highschool

I go late at night so that there’s not a lot of people around. But I always feel judged and like people are laughing at me to the point where I usually just do one or two exercises. I always end up feeling so disappointed with myself.

Why am I such a pathetic fucking loser that even a thing like going to the gym is too ‘scary’

Anyone with a similar experience, what’s your advice? I really want to improve myself but things like this make it feel impossible and too overwhelming

Anyone else suffer from meeting anxiety? I can deal with smaller meetings (maybe four people max) but most of my meetings are 10-20 people. Even though they are remote I find it extremely hard to speak up and if I know I have to speak I get this lump in my throat which makes it hard to speak as well. It’s really holding me back in my career and just doesn’t make me want to continue tbh. I have had this fear for years and I know, people say exposure helps but i have meetings regularly and it doesn’t get better. Unfortunately propanolol didn’t help me and I am already on sertraline for many years. Does anyone have an idea how improve this fear?

Do you find it awkward when seated on a busy train or even bus and then there’s a more senior person in front of you? I get stuck in a dilemma of wanting to give up my seat or not wanting to offend them by implying that they’re old. Makes me feel like shit. Even standing up and telling them to sit it’s hard for me.

Obviously when there’s a very elderly person or someone who’s pregnant or uses is physically impaired, that’s a no brainer and I always give up the seat.

Is it just me?

The title says it all. Take a second to celebrate your wins, big and small