Rainbows18
Member
I really feel like shit right now. I’m 18 and I’ve had social anxiety for about 3 years, but its been pretty bad. Not only am I afraid to be around strangers, but I’m also uncomfortable being around my own family. I try to go to most of the birthday parties and family events, but its really hard. I missed my nieces birthday party the other day, I didn’t think it would be a big deal. Anyways, I got into a fight with my dad today and out of no where he tells me that it was very rude I didn’t show up to my nieces birthday, and that everyone was asking about me, and that they think I don’t care about them anymore or don’t respect them or something. I explained to him what I was going through, even though he already knows my problem, but instead of understanding, he kept saying that’s no excuse and that if I cared about them so much I would start going to everything. Now I feel terrible, I don’t know what to do or where to start. I want to fix things. I want my family to know that I do care about them, and I want them to know I have social anxiety so that they stop thinking I don’t like them. I just really don’t know where to start or what to do, for the past three years I haven’t really spent a lot of time with my family, and we used to be somewhat close. Now I cant even look them in the eyes and I feel extremely uncomfortable and awkward just talking to them. I also have the blushing issue along with my social anxiety, so that makes it worse because that’s another thing that’s hard to explain and makes me look weird. Any advice?