I’m not invited

Hi @jem80,

Thanks for sharing this. The experience that you are describing sounds isolating and frustrating. I hope that the forums at least, are a place where you feel welcome, invited and able to just be yourself.

It sounds like you have some people in your life who are well intentioned, but noneltheless, getting it a bit wrong. Sometimes people can respond quite well to being told directly, how you would like to be treated and communicated with. Do you have some thoughts around how you would preffer your well intentioned friends to engage with you?

@Former-Member

Thanks for your post. Unfortunately when I am direct, I end up insulting people because I explain how I feel.

Its a bit of power play.

I get a bit like that @jem80

Hey @jem80, I only have a very select group of people I open up to about how I am really going. I don't even use Facebook messenger anymore and in chat rooms I make sure I never mention about ill mental health. Maybe I am not being true to myself or true to the people I keep contact with, but at least being hiding that little aspect of myself, I'm not turning out to be the social leper I once was.

Living with mental health issues is isolating enough I think.

Be kind to yourself

@jem80

yes absolutely I’ve had similar experience. I just want to emphasise this is my personal experience it doesn’t mean this will happen to you. A few years ago I had a group of friends and we used to meet up once a week and play trivia. This may not seem like such a big deal but for me with my depression and social phobia it was really important. It helped me to force myself to go out and interact with people and was a really good part of my recovery.

I don’t know what happened exactly - I think some people in the group influenced others to exclude me. I find this happens 1-people don’t have time/patience to deal with someone who has mental illness 2-their own lives take up more and more of their time so they have less time for others 3- some people just can’t deal with interacting with someone who has an illness. Literally they just run and avoid that person.

Anyway all of a sudden I was told the get together a weren’t happening. They were but I wasn’t wanted there. All I can advise you is if you still

want to be included with these people let them know this and do your best to stay involved. If they exclude you still perhaps they are not the right people to support you atm. Some people just don’t have it in them.