In my earlier post I wrote "it's not common" and what I meant to write was "it's not UNcommon"!!! Sorry about that!! In other words, what I meant was, I think a lot of people probably experience these phases. Sorry for any confusion!!

I can also relate to what you say here about feeling left out. I do feel that too, but usually it's just my perception and it's not really true. But that still doesn't stop me feeling left out sometimes!!! I have to be in a pretty good mood to be able to "banter". I'm not someone who is naturally witty and if I'm feeling down, there is no way I can banter back and forth in Games, or wherever. So definitely I can relate to feeling excluded sometimes from the connection others seem to share. But, as you say, we do "warm up" again. And I hope you are getting warmer by the minute! (((((((((lavie))))))))

The other thing is - though this can be hard - I think it can be really help if we actually say, "hey, I feel really down or really shut out right now". Sometimes I make the mistake of expecting people to mind-read that. And then I get upset if they don't offer me extra support. When, in fact, I didn't actually ask for any. I just withdrew and expected people to notice. So I think it's great that you are writing about it here. And giving us a chance to write about our experiences too. Thank you for that!