How many people felt nervous joining this site?

First when i logged on to this site I was so relieved to read the posts here and realize that I felt just like everyone here.but,then when I actually joined and wrote my first post I was so nervous I kept reading what I wrote wondering if it was good enough or made any sense.then after previewing and submitted what i wrote .that's when the negative thinking started.I felt like what i submitted would be judged negatively or critized.I felt like I didn't even belong here or fit in.It's kind of funny and ironic to feel that way
about a social anxiety support group.where everyone feels like you do but,that's how bad this disorder is.

the only thing i am nervous about is anyone of my real life friends finding me out. knowing that im social phobic. i just try to act normal, but its hard. i just realized today when i entered my name on google, i found a link to this socialphobiaworld site, and was kind of afraid someone will find me out. 8O

I was afraid that if I used the screen name that I have been using online, if someone I know in real life finds out what my online name is, they would google it and find me here, so I used the Spanish version of that screen name. That is stupid because no one I know in real life knows any of the names I go by online anyway, at least not the one that I've been using lately. My post made absolutely no sense...

O/T I don't have to worry about people finding me by googling my real name because there are tons of people with my first and last name. 704 results when I used quotes, none of them are me (I don't think). :lol:

edit to add even more off-topicness: I found myself, it was a link to a webpage that I made for my dog that I forgot about. :lol: "Ruby: World's Cutest Chihuahua" now I just need to figure out how to delete it...

yeah, i had to change my AIM name b/c my main concern is others finding me out too.

i feel like we're all spys

I did...

Actually...that's the main reason I don't post much...I don't like the way anything I type up sounds...I just don't feel like I have any useful input to anything and no one cares what I think. I type up posts read them and then just close out of this site because they never sound right. I also really don't want people I know finding out about this...not that they think I'm normal, but at least they don't think I'm completely off the wall...well...most of them anyways. I suppose I'll hit submit this time...to hell with it.

Ya, I was nervous. Still am sometimes.

hey, yeah i was nervous for the same reasons: 1.that somehow people i know would find me going on this site (this is why i have not supplied my email just to be sure), and 2.because i'm not a confident writer and i think people will judge me or i'll sound like an idiot.

I remember when I first wrote my first post my heart was beating 3 times a second and I was sweating like hell :lol:

And that was not because it was my first time using a forum and I had no idea how to post , but because stupid thoughts started running through my mind like people here thinking : what is this freak doing here ? or : here is another loser on the forum, he sounds like he's 10 years old, he can't even type right, and I was afraid of all members jumping and criticising me and telling me: you don't belong here, we don't need weirdos here, f*ck off.

I used to read my posts like 6 times before i hit submit, checking if I sounded stupid or awkard and checking spelling and grammar with the dictionary by my side, all this time feeling a nervous wreck.

But I realised that Sp-ers and shy people here are all nice and caring and very supportive and understanding when u need them and very helpfull when u need an advice. I only check my posts once for grammar now, although I don't always get it right. This place has become like my second home

Well, I wouldn't say the same thing about different guest who sometimes should keep their mouth shut instead of insulting and being mean to our condition, I get very irritated when I see those kind of persons being wise asses. :evil:

Oh, and about the name, avatar, e-mail, MSN or yahoo messenger adress i use, only u guys know about it :wink:

And Toad, u should press submit more often, your posts sounds fine. Btw, nice avatar I wish I could follow my own advice, I often change my mind when I want to post a story cause I think it's not interesting enough and boring and nobody cares what I think anyway. I'm still working on this paranoic thought.

I always worry that people think negatively about me, I read my posts over and over to make sure I havn't typed anything stupid. Most of the time I end up not posting at all. I don't have any friends so I'm not worried about anyone finding me out, atleast there is one good thing about having no friends :lol: .

Yeah I was very nervous when I first started posting. It was a comfort to read that there were others who thought and felt so similar.

Making those first posts were really scary and then no one answered and I was embarassed. I felt like I was too weird for SPW and really felt stone-walled, or maybe just invisible. I read in a couple of the posts that if you weren't liked then noone would answer, and that made me feel a bit paranoid about my posts, like I was being too honest or open or something and putting people off.

I tend to read more than post now. It's too stressful for me to post much.

I was happy to find it..but admitedly I was kind of hesitant to start posting.
Now I wonder if I post too much lol. But I'm happy to be able to talk to people and not feel the normal anxiety I usually feel. and to know that we are all kind of in the same boat..and empathetic to each others situations.

magda74 said:

I tend to read more than post now. It's too stressful for me to post much.

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I was fairly comfortable and at ease when I first began posting, thanks to the friendly and supportive atmosphere created by the SPW members.

I actually thought that the vast majority of people here are very intelligent, articulate and witty.

I don't think anyone should feel embarassed or hesitant about posting or even worry about sounding stupid as we're not here to judge or criticise each other..infact even the most intelligent of people in the world can sound stupid sometimes - this is just a normal part of life.

The only way to overcome SA is to confront it bit by bit, by dealing with situations that are less-anxiety generating first.....and certainly not to avoid things. Talking to people in the 'real world' is far more daunting than online interactions so I suppose my advice would be to use this and other forums/chat rooms as an opportunity to tackle at least one aspect of your SA.

SaharaWorld said:

magda74 said:

I tend to read more than post now. It's too stressful for me to post much.

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I was fairly comfortable and at ease when I first began posting, thanks to the friendly and supportive atmosphere created by the SPW members.

I actually thought that the vast majority of people here are very intelligent, articulate and witty.

I don't think anyone should feel embarassed or hesitant about posting or even worry about sounding stupid as we're not here to judge or criticise each other..infact even the most intelligent of people in the world can sound stupid sometimes - this is just a normal part of life.

The only way to overcome SA is to confront it bit by bit, by dealing with situations that are less-anxiety generating first.....and certainly not to avoid things. Talking to people in the 'real world' is far more daunting than online interactions so I suppose my advice would be to use this and other forums/chat rooms as an opportunity to tackle at least one aspect of your SA.

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I'm happy that's been your experience Saharaworld....

It's not about thinking I'm stupid or that I don't think that people here aren't witty, articulate or intelligent. Not that at all. For me, it's more stressful communicating by posts because I can't see anyone's expression, or hear someone's tone and I'm never really sure if someone got what I said as I intended it. If noone answers I think the worst and then the forum becomes a depressing experience, not a good one.

I've been keeping in touch with people by email or pm's and in person and that works better for me. At least I have an indication of what's happening. I'm at a bit of a loss when I'm just relying on the forums tho, so I've decided to limit that form of communication. I haven't given up, in fact, quite the opposite. I just read more now for info, as opposed to using it soley to 'chat' without using a chat room, lol.

Thanx for the encouragement.

This is my third post and Christ I find it very difficult.
Most other people here seem so comfortable and used to each other. I feel like a stranger intruding on a conversation amongst a group of friends. You all seem to be able to communicate your feelings so freely and informally to each other. I don't know if I could ever express myself as fluently as some of you, even here typing anonymously on a forum to people in a similar situation to myself!
I'm not even sure how to end this bloody thing.

welcome leithliseach!

I know exactly how you feel.i felt that way and still do
but,it gets a little easier after awhile.don't stop writing though because you never know when you'll say something that really relate to someone and you'll end up helping them in a big way.thats why i started this topic because i wanted to let people on here know how i felt and i wanted to know if i was the only one who was anxious.i've learned so much from being on here

Yes I was nervous, Im still nervous when I post. Ill read over my post like 10 times to make sure it sounds good and still edit it a few more. lol . But the the first time I posted it was weird because I have never talked to anyone about this.

Nope...I dont get nervous talking to people online or going on forums...not usually anyway.

Yeah I was pretty nervous when I first joined. I used to edit, re-edit and overedit every post I write. So my posts become really confusing... even to myself. When that happens I just press the back button and give up. Well fortunately I got better over the 1.5 years. Now I can actually post stuff. 8O

Well this is my first post on here and boy am I nervous.

I have not made a post online in 4 years.I have tried before then but because of my bad spelling and grammar,I would get flamed be the grammar police and trolls all the time .That was really hard because of my insecurity about being stupid.Plus I always worried that I sounded like a fool.So just stopped posting.

Now am try to improve my self and become more social.No small feet for me but you have to get the ball rolling somewhere.Hopefully i wont make a fool of my self on here.