nemasket
Member
Hi everyone,
I'm a 26-year-old woman from the Northeast, and I've pretty much been shy and anxious since as far back as I can remember, mainly related to SAD and OCD. I've been on the continuum from dropping out of my first year of college due to anxiety and major depression and staying home for 12 months, to at my most functional tackling a full workload at college with part-time jobs and going out fairly regularly with friends.
My life has recently turned for the better in a lot of ways (finally feeling emotionally balanced after ending an abusive relationship over a year ago, finishing my master's degree, working my first full-time job, recently engaged to a great man who I feel I don't deserve), but I'm still very avoident, have hardly any friends I see other than my fiance (no close ones), and just feel terrible and inadequate in almost all my dealings with other people - even posting here has me second-guessing everything I write and feeling like an outsider.
But I now have so much energy and so many things I want to do with my life - and I really want to conquer this. I'm tired of putting things off or regretting experiences I didn't have because I was afraid. I still can't even do things as basic as make a cup of coffee in the office because I'm afraid of running into someone and looking/saying something stupid. It's so limiting, and frustrating, and I say it changes, even if I'm utterly terrified in the process.
So I hope I can share experiences here and offer support as well
I'm a 26-year-old woman from the Northeast, and I've pretty much been shy and anxious since as far back as I can remember, mainly related to SAD and OCD. I've been on the continuum from dropping out of my first year of college due to anxiety and major depression and staying home for 12 months, to at my most functional tackling a full workload at college with part-time jobs and going out fairly regularly with friends.
My life has recently turned for the better in a lot of ways (finally feeling emotionally balanced after ending an abusive relationship over a year ago, finishing my master's degree, working my first full-time job, recently engaged to a great man who I feel I don't deserve), but I'm still very avoident, have hardly any friends I see other than my fiance (no close ones), and just feel terrible and inadequate in almost all my dealings with other people - even posting here has me second-guessing everything I write and feeling like an outsider.
But I now have so much energy and so many things I want to do with my life - and I really want to conquer this. I'm tired of putting things off or regretting experiences I didn't have because I was afraid. I still can't even do things as basic as make a cup of coffee in the office because I'm afraid of running into someone and looking/saying something stupid. It's so limiting, and frustrating, and I say it changes, even if I'm utterly terrified in the process.
So I hope I can share experiences here and offer support as well
