Pongle
Member
Hi everyone,
I found this forum a couple of weeks ago and until now I've just browsed through every now and then, but now I've finally decided to join in with you lot.
Hope you'll take the time to read what I have to say.
Well, first things first. I'm 21 years old and I've had SP since I was about 9 years old. (That's the earliest I can remember having this problem anyway) Still it was only 2 years ago that I realised that there is infact a diagnosis for my problem.
My SP is generally about talking to people, but I'm also much concerned with what other people think of me. It can be just as difficult talking to my parents as to a complete stranger on the street. The worst situations for me are phone calls, talking to authorities and when I have to tell people things I *know* like my name, the names of my relatives/friends, where I live, etc etc.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've succcessfully introduced myself, where I was actually able to tell the person asking my name, over the past few years and I would need a whole lot of hands to count the times I failed. In most cases I chicken out and leave them with a "hi", "nice to meet you" or something like that, unless of course they really need my name for registering something or whatever in which case I eventually manage to tell them. Actually I've even had to write it down a couple of time because I simply could not say it.
It might not come as a big surprise, but I don't have a girlfriend nor have I ever had one. It's been over 10 years since I even kissed a girl, but that was in a game of spin the bottle, so I reckon it doesn't really count. There have been a couple of girls which I could easily tell were interested, but nothing happened because I was too afraid to initiate conversation.
The fear is never knowing when the SP strikes. The fear of making a fool out of myself in front of people I know when I'm suddenly unable to say anything. Belive it or not, I am really a very social person and not shy at all, which makes dealing with my condition even harder.
I should probably wrap this up now as I ought to get some sleep. You're probably tired of reading too, so I guess I'm doing us both a favour.
Thanks for reading,
-Pongle
I found this forum a couple of weeks ago and until now I've just browsed through every now and then, but now I've finally decided to join in with you lot.
Hope you'll take the time to read what I have to say.
Well, first things first. I'm 21 years old and I've had SP since I was about 9 years old. (That's the earliest I can remember having this problem anyway) Still it was only 2 years ago that I realised that there is infact a diagnosis for my problem.
My SP is generally about talking to people, but I'm also much concerned with what other people think of me. It can be just as difficult talking to my parents as to a complete stranger on the street. The worst situations for me are phone calls, talking to authorities and when I have to tell people things I *know* like my name, the names of my relatives/friends, where I live, etc etc.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've succcessfully introduced myself, where I was actually able to tell the person asking my name, over the past few years and I would need a whole lot of hands to count the times I failed. In most cases I chicken out and leave them with a "hi", "nice to meet you" or something like that, unless of course they really need my name for registering something or whatever in which case I eventually manage to tell them. Actually I've even had to write it down a couple of time because I simply could not say it.
It might not come as a big surprise, but I don't have a girlfriend nor have I ever had one. It's been over 10 years since I even kissed a girl, but that was in a game of spin the bottle, so I reckon it doesn't really count. There have been a couple of girls which I could easily tell were interested, but nothing happened because I was too afraid to initiate conversation.
The fear is never knowing when the SP strikes. The fear of making a fool out of myself in front of people I know when I'm suddenly unable to say anything. Belive it or not, I am really a very social person and not shy at all, which makes dealing with my condition even harder.
I should probably wrap this up now as I ought to get some sleep. You're probably tired of reading too, so I guess I'm doing us both a favour.
Thanks for reading,
-Pongle