JakeDennert
Member
Hi there, SocialPhobiaWorld community...
Thought I'd make my first post today.
I look around the site and I see a very active, helpful place. People helping people everywhere I turn. It's a beautiful thing.
Anyway, a little about me...
I've been able to trace my social anxiety back to around 8th, maybe 9th grade... when my drinking habit became a problem. I drank to feel comfortable around other people, didn't feel social at all without alcohol... and in my younger days, people seemed to like the person I became while drinking more than they liked the "sober me."
So I abused alcohol for quite a long time. Enlisted in the Marines after high school, saw combat in Iraq... and when I got back, I drank myself stupid again.
A near-death-experience car accident changed everything for me back in October of 2008... and I finally sobered up.
Upon doing so, I realized I had PTSD as a result of what I'd seen and done overseas. But I'd later learn that it was more than that -- that I'd been experiencing social anxiety well before enlisting, and well before seeing war.
That's what brought everything to the surface for me, though. The PTSD, the social anxiety... I didn't know I had either one until I took the booze away, because I'd been using alcohol as a means of coping with it.
Why I'm Here...
I'm here to meet, connect with, and hopefully help anyone who is going through what I used to struggle so much with.
-- Social Anxiety
-- PTSD
-- Alcoholism
I feel like I'm as close to "normal" as I've ever been, and I haven't had a drop of alcohol in more than 4 years. It hasn't been easy. I have my ups and downs -- good days, bad days -- but I'm never going back to what I was.
Anyway, that's a very brief version of my story. Glad to be here... and excited to help out, if I can.
Thanks for reading.
Jake D.
Thought I'd make my first post today.
I look around the site and I see a very active, helpful place. People helping people everywhere I turn. It's a beautiful thing.
Anyway, a little about me...
I've been able to trace my social anxiety back to around 8th, maybe 9th grade... when my drinking habit became a problem. I drank to feel comfortable around other people, didn't feel social at all without alcohol... and in my younger days, people seemed to like the person I became while drinking more than they liked the "sober me."
So I abused alcohol for quite a long time. Enlisted in the Marines after high school, saw combat in Iraq... and when I got back, I drank myself stupid again.
A near-death-experience car accident changed everything for me back in October of 2008... and I finally sobered up.
Upon doing so, I realized I had PTSD as a result of what I'd seen and done overseas. But I'd later learn that it was more than that -- that I'd been experiencing social anxiety well before enlisting, and well before seeing war.
That's what brought everything to the surface for me, though. The PTSD, the social anxiety... I didn't know I had either one until I took the booze away, because I'd been using alcohol as a means of coping with it.
Why I'm Here...
I'm here to meet, connect with, and hopefully help anyone who is going through what I used to struggle so much with.
-- Social Anxiety
-- PTSD
-- Alcoholism
I feel like I'm as close to "normal" as I've ever been, and I haven't had a drop of alcohol in more than 4 years. It hasn't been easy. I have my ups and downs -- good days, bad days -- but I'm never going back to what I was.
Anyway, that's a very brief version of my story. Glad to be here... and excited to help out, if I can.
Thanks for reading.
Jake D.
