socially anxious, but...

[addamweishaupt]

Although I do have moderate to severe social anxiety, I find that I am not always anxious. in fact, there's a certain pattern to my social anxiety that I'm wondering how I can benefit from. I notice that although my outings are very infrequent, I have no trouble being out in the withness of a trusted family member with whom I feel comfortable. When

Comments

[dodgy_mermaid]

I have been in a similar situation. My friends simply did not understand my illness, and since it would be years from that time before I would be able to identify it myself, I can scarcely fault them for ignorance--but I do blame them for insensitivity and cruelty. When someone is panicking, it only occurs to me to be gentle, so I do not understand others' tendency for impatience and nastiness. I am really sorry your group mistreated you so, knowing you had trouble. You deserved kindness and understanding.

I ditched my group, too, and haven't had real-life friendships go beyond acquaintanceship since. At first there were simply no opportunities, and that remains an issue now, but it's also that I've grown distant, and probably scared, and even somewhat embittered. Trust issues--yeah. Same.

Glad you're here. I raise my glass to healing.

[glass5ky]

Hey there,

I can also relate to the loss of friends. My old friends were mostly bossy people who did not understand my anxiety and caused me more by inviting me to high social stress events. I ended up directly telling my last set of friends that I needed space and I still feel bad about it to this day. Even though, I am actually very glad that I was able to lose that source of stress and develop my independence so I don't really regret it. Anyway, I also feel much more comfortable with someone I'm close to in public than when I'm alone. It's weird how it feel so different. I think it's normal for a lot of people though to feel a little less comfortable when alone than with the support of someone else. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences, it was interesting to read. I do have trust issues to some extent, though it is really more of a problem with not feeling like I can connect to most people. It's difficult for me to find people I really feel I can relate to.