On The Outside
14-12-10, 16:27
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site and decided to join after reading through some of the forums and identifying with others who have posted.
I've suffered from OCD, shyness and Social Anxiety for most of my life. This has made it very difficult for me to meet people and make new friends. As a result I've spent a lot of time feeling lonely and isolated and these thoughts and feelings have led to depression. I currently don't work or study and have no local groups I can go to. I've also had almost no help from my local mental health care. The stigma of living like this gets worse with every day.
Up until recently I did at least have one real life friend but he became unbearable and often said quite hurtful and insensitive things to me. I've generally been unlucky in life when it's come to finding good friends and have had a lot of bad experiences which have made it hard for me to trust people. The last couple of years things have got worse and I've ended up becoming a recluse hardly ever going over the doorstep.
There was a time in my early twenties (I'm now in my thirties) that I used to be content with my own company and my hobbies. But over the years my feelings of loneliness and need for friendship and companionship have increased and I've been left not knowing how to go about changing my situation. I've been on other support sites and tried social networking sites in the past (as a way of making friends) but I have great difficulty being noticed by people and often when I've tried to initiate any kind of contact I've not heard back from them or stopped hearing from them after only a few messages. This has made me feel even more cautious about contacting people. But I feel determined to change my life and start going out again and making progress instead of hiding myself away.
I'm hoping to get to know some people here and possibly make new friends. Just reading some of the threads I can see there are others in a similar situation.
Thanks for reading and hope to hear from someone. :)
I'm new to this site and decided to join after reading through some of the forums and identifying with others who have posted.
I've suffered from OCD, shyness and Social Anxiety for most of my life. This has made it very difficult for me to meet people and make new friends. As a result I've spent a lot of time feeling lonely and isolated and these thoughts and feelings have led to depression. I currently don't work or study and have no local groups I can go to. I've also had almost no help from my local mental health care. The stigma of living like this gets worse with every day.
Up until recently I did at least have one real life friend but he became unbearable and often said quite hurtful and insensitive things to me. I've generally been unlucky in life when it's come to finding good friends and have had a lot of bad experiences which have made it hard for me to trust people. The last couple of years things have got worse and I've ended up becoming a recluse hardly ever going over the doorstep.
There was a time in my early twenties (I'm now in my thirties) that I used to be content with my own company and my hobbies. But over the years my feelings of loneliness and need for friendship and companionship have increased and I've been left not knowing how to go about changing my situation. I've been on other support sites and tried social networking sites in the past (as a way of making friends) but I have great difficulty being noticed by people and often when I've tried to initiate any kind of contact I've not heard back from them or stopped hearing from them after only a few messages. This has made me feel even more cautious about contacting people. But I feel determined to change my life and start going out again and making progress instead of hiding myself away.
I'm hoping to get to know some people here and possibly make new friends. Just reading some of the threads I can see there are others in a similar situation.
Thanks for reading and hope to hear from someone. :)