I am looking for friends

Hi @Writetopeople

Welcome to the forum! Glad you are here amongst us because its a really friendly and supportive place to be. It has definitely eased some of my loneliness too. I also find it really hard to make friends or be social out and about. Im single with two youngsters so they keep me fairly busy (4 and 7 year olds). But i find the days long sometimes too...

I also have PTSD and have been getting interested in doing some writing.. but not really sure where to start! Also thinking of going back and doing some more study... (i think anytime i get bored i go back and do more study lol)...

Feel free to join in any of the discussions going on abouts the place... we have a friday night 'feast' where we just chat and relax.. and there is a daily gratitude discussion in (i think.. enjoying our wellbeing section) where we post about something we're greatful for.. and have a bit of a laugh with each other at times 😄

Hope to see you around the forums!

LJ

Hi @Writetopeople. I'm fairly new to this forum myself, but in the short time I've been coming here, I've found it a great comfort as having people to talk with, who are understanding and non-judgemental is a breath of fresh air.

I also find social situations difficult - especially when there are authority figures involved. This has made studying nursing somewhat more difficult than it should be, but I am plowing on. I have my next prac work coming up in a couple of weeks... hope I can keep my anxiety levels under control this time - don't want to end up admitted to the hospital again.

On another note, a couple of years ago I joined a Scrabble club in order to be around people a bit more, as I'm aware that my social skills won't grow if I'm not around people and I won't be able to overcome my fears either. The Scrabble club I went to was only small, but it enabled me to be around people and grow my confidence a bit, as well as trust people a bit more, which was good for me.

Hello @Writetopeople

I am in a very similar boat ... re profile, interests and MI. I am half Dutch .. half Irish-Australian.

Welcome

@Writetopeople Hello and welcome to the forums!

I also have social anxiety. It stops me from doing many social things that I would LOVE to do if only other people weren't involved! It is a strange one where you can be so lonely, yet the very things you ned to do to meet people and sustain friendships are so difficult.

That's why I LOVE these (and to a lesser degree) other forums. I am also branching out into PenPals for a slower paced version of the same thing.

Have you always had it or did it develop at a specific point?

You have a lot of interesting hobbies/interests and I look forward to seeing more of your contributions on the forums as you settle in and make friends here.

I too wouldn't mind some new penpals... I find that I can be around people socially now, after a couple of years of really trying hard to beat social anxiety, but that other factors stop me from actually making friends. I have a lot of acquaintances but I don't really trust them enough to share anything too personal with them. it's all on a very superficial level. It'd be nice to have some people to share problems with and also to offer advice to if I could. I find I don't really have anyone to talk to about the things I go through...

@Writetopeople, @DefiantPanda

Reading your comments about penpals and wanting to connect with others reminded me of a conversation I had with someone recently about a penpals site/online community called Interpals

I have not used it myself and don't really know that much about it, other than the fact that my friend said it was one of their favourite platforms for connecting with others all over the world. He said that he formed some nice friendships and met some interestjng new friends online using this site.

Does anyone have thoughts on sites like these or even thoughts on the concept of online penpals?