Hello out there:-)

Hi there, I've had social phobia since I was..... can't remember actually (since ever) and varying degrees of OCD since the age of sevenish. Which is like oooo 20 years :whistle: in all I guess. I was only diagnosed in the last five years or so, so basicaly I grew up (a bit;) ) knowing there was something wrong and being told I was 'highly strung' or 'a bit shy' to explain my fears. So to sum up I'm kind of used to going through life being lonely and with people thinking I was weird or a loner (I'm not a loner at all, I love socialising, I was just desperately scared of meeting new people so I tended to avoid it). I don't want to give a false impression though, I've had girlfriends even though I've never been on a date, I've had many friends even though I had to drink to socialise (unless I knew someone really well and even then I'd still be nervous). See the thing is I love life, I'm optomistic, I can laugh at myself and love making people laugh, I love flirting and am very confident. If it wasn't for the untreated social phobia I think I could definately be described as an extrovert - the life and soul of the partyB). I'm not big headed at all I don't think I'm better than anyone. All these positives desert me as I'm on my wayy to a party, or if I ask a girl out, all I can think about is how shit I am, how I'm not going to succeed :blush: . Harsh but I'm not in need of sympathy, I need friends, a lover, a sense that I'm worth something even if I aam unemployed. I think that people are so much more than a profession, it's not employment that defines a person, it's everything they do, everything they don't do. I've had a job for a couple of months at most in my entire life, I'm not lazy but all my life I've been too scared of rejection to get a job I've been hassled the whole time by most people to do something with my life, or called a scrounger or the eterneal political football that is the benefit claimant (Jeremy Kyles favourite crowd pleaser - idiot). All this time I made various excuses or avoided the subject because I didn't know what was genuinely wrong. Even if I trust someone enough to tell them what's genuinely wrong with me when the inevitable 'so what do you do?' question comes up, they rarely seem to understand and every time I see one member of my family who knows I'm ill and why I dont work they start an argument with me about when I'm going to get a job. Oh dear this is turning into a rant, it's only supposed to be an intro eh? Lol. I'm really sorry I'm just eager to get all this out of my system because I've had virtually no social life for the last five or more years I'm gagging for a good long chat with someone who understands and I need a hug dammit physical preferably but virtual one would be a damn good start! Thanks for reading this far, you really are a trooper:) If that hasn't put you off (don't worry, I think I've got most of it out now!) or you want to talk about your experiences with these problems or any others, get in touch, ahhhhh go on:woohoo: !

Hello and welcome to the site.....Im still digesting your comments so might take a bit of time to respond

Hiya and a very warm welcome to the site.You will find lots of friendship and support here and I look forward to chatting with you x

Thanks both of you I just took a look and thats quite some introduction! I guess a couple of lines of text would have done it! Oh well thats me! Thanks for the welcome it's nice that people take the time out to look at the introductions, don't know if I'm going to go on the chat room yet, I'm quite shy around new people, but I'm sure I'll find friends on here and who knows maybe more lifes full of surprises.<br><br>Post edited by: Le_Coq_Sexif, at: 2009/12/27 06:54

welcome to able-here
you rant all you like we do lol

Thanks Ducky, it's theraputic aint it? I got to let it out somewhere - else there'll be ructions:evil: !:dry: (Not really though, but if I can't write it down, I'll end up talking to myself - again:blink: )