Anxiety after isolating myself from the outside world for so long.
Hi. Not sure where to begin but I'll try to keep this brief. Back when I was a young teen, i got in with the wrong crowd and started taking things that would mess with my mind beyond belief. I started with Cannabis, no problem with that but then started with some harder stuff. I ended up hallucinating 2-3 years down the line which ultimately made me have a psychotic break. By this time I had to seek professional help and was put on medication which I was on for the remainder of my teens into my early adult-hood.
I've now come off all of my medication at the beginning of this year and I'm feeling far better than I ever was. :)
(I did find that in the end medication wasn't helping me anymore so this is the only reason I stopped taking them, but I definitely would say I needed them in my early years for anyone wondering. DON'T STOP YOUR MEDS WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR FIRST)
Even though things are much better now, I was a shut-in where I rarely went into the outside world besides in really important cases, such as hospital visits of family members. All I did was play video games and I put on a lot of weight since then as I struggled to find motivation to keep myself decent. I have been exercising and eating healthily for the past month and have lost a lot of weight, but what I'm left with is a lot of social anxiety some days, and that can be really demotivating. :/ Just wondering if people have been in a similar situation like mine and how are they dealing with it?
@Tom94123 I haven't been in a very similar situation but I do understand the dibilitating fear that accompanies social anxiety. I am still struggling with it now but meeting with my counselor, the best piece of advice he shared was that I shouldn't enter a social situation and pretend that I am a social person. I need to enter a social situation with the intention to do well by my standards (that can mean participating in a group conversation, it can mean meeting one new person, it might mean going up to someone and introducing myself first). Don't compare yourself to someone who isn't struggling with the hardships you are because if you do you might make negative comments about your own abiliites. Instead focus on how you can slightly improve yourself little by little.
I hope this helps. And I realize that I am giving this advice to you much later than you asked for it. I'm sorry that your thread was unanswered for so long. How has your social anxiety been like since you posted this?
@Tom94123
I've been in kind of a similar situation because I had a psychotic break for different reasons and isolated really badly afterwards. I felt like a freak and like everything was alien, even when I started to feel better. It really messed with my mind and my social anxiety. I'm trying to break out of isolation but it is hard going.