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Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

MattMan87Contributor29 Sept 2024, 10:33 am AEST

Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

Hello everyone,

I am a guy who is in his late 30's and has Asperger's syndrome. For almost my entire life I have been feeling very anxious.

Most recently, I have been feeling nostalgic about my past. When I was younger, I have struggled to interact with my peers when I was at both primary and high school.

Making friends was challenging for me. There were a few times when the other students
(most of them were girls) would offer to be my friends when I first started high school, but due to being too shy and having difficulty with communicating, I rejected them (which I now live to regret that decision).

I also used to get bullied a lot and my mum had to pull me out of school, and then I had to be home schooled (which made me feel isolated and depressed). I wanted to return to school so I could be around the other kids and maybe I could have even reconsidered the friendship offers from those students who I have previously rejected.

But when I did return to school, the bullying got worse, so I had to go back to being home schooled again. I missed out on a lot of opportunities.

But now that I am in my late 30's, I have lost interest in my current life. I am now married and have two children. Right now, I am living in the past because I am not coping in the present day. I always wished that I did things differently in the past, so that my present would have been better. I am very nostalgic, and I wish I could go back in time and be a teenager again and fix up all the mistakes that I made in the past.

To make matters worse, I am also currently unemployed, and I have limited access to being able to get an internship or work placement anywhere despite that I have done some TAFE courses.

14 replies

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In response to: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

FriendlyflutterSenior Contributor30 Sept 2024, 7:38 am AEST

Re: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

Hi there @BecauseI

Thank you for sharing this. We wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to the forums.

We hope that you find the forums a great place to connect with other members, share stories and ideas, and find the support and connection you deserve.

Feel free to Introduce yourself here if you haven’t already!

We look forward to seeing you around on the forums!

In response to: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

MattMan87Contributor30 Sept 2024, 9:56 am AEST

Re: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

Hi @MJG017

Back when I was younger, I was introverted too, but at the same time I really wanted to have friends as I got lonely and bored at school. I guess that I can't change that now.

In response to: Re: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

MJG017Senior Contributor30 Sept 2024, 3:48 pm AEST

Re: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

@MattMan87 wrote:
Back when I was younger, I was introverted too, but at the same time I really wanted to have friends as I got lonely and bored at school. I guess that I can't change that now.

Hi @MattMan87. I wanted friends, it was just difficult for me to do. I had some kids I hung around with, but I wouldn't say I became friends with them. Except for two of them from primary school. I still am in contact with those two, and one from high school. I just found it very hard to socialise with anyone, so became very introverted. I would have much preferred not to be, but as you say... a bit hard to change that now. But I can try to change myself now so that's what I've been trying to do the past 18 months or so.

In response to: Re: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

MattMan87Contributor30 Sept 2024, 9:55 pm AEST

Re: Feeling anxious about the present. Feeling nostalgic and yearning for the past

Good evening @MJG017

I know exactly how you feel. I have been in that position also. I am in contact with several kids that I went to high school with. We only chat every now and then. It's good that you are still in touch with your friends you knew from primary and high school. Change does take time, wish it could happen overnight. I thought that getting married and having kids would make up for not having a good social life. Take care.

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