Stop Staring at Me

I am a very self-conscious person. I do everything by the internet or at home. Why? Because I have a really bad case of social anxiety. Slowly, but surely I am working to do more things in a public setting, but it is just not that easy for me.

When I was a teen or even a young child I did not think twice about going someone by myself, but one even freaked me out that happened to me during my teen years. I went to the mall by myself and there was this older guy following me. He wasn't just going in the same direction as me, he followed me through the mall. I went down, actually ran down, an exit, across the parking lot into the grocery store, calling my mother. When he saw that I was on the phone he took off in the other direction. I do believe this was the start of my social anxiety.

I know not everyone has ill intentions, but that really shook me up. I wondered if I did not know what to do when I thought someone, remember stranger danger day from school, if I would be here right now. Who knows what that guy intended?