[Adam]

Over the passed 20 years (of being an adult) I've learned that a lot of people suffer from crippling-anxiety. Three of my closest friends do but I wouldn't have known when they were not close friends as they hurt themselves (mostly mentally but sometimes physically) to not show it.

A lot of us self-manage with drink and drugs which makes us OK for a brief moment but it's no cure long term with side-effects that are often worse than what we started with.

It doesn't help that there are some extroverts in the world who seem to be the life of world and we all think 'why am I not like them, they are normal' so we think that there is something wrong with us and we try to emulate. We see others trying to emulate and when you only catch the highlights of someone's life you think 'they have it sorted too, they are normal too' when actually they are screaming inside.

Life is weird. But this thread isn't weird.