I'm anxious all the time because I'm now a hermit. The only time I leave my apartment is once or twice a week to get mail and dump trash, or once in a great while to attend one of my medical appointments. I do everything else inside - my T appointments twice per week are all inside. I'm not even comfortable opening my front door. it's been like this since March 2020, when the pandemic started.

Prior to March 2020, I used to have general anxiety about being attacked on the street or in an Uber. It was hard for me to go out frequently between 2018 and 2020. I had a bad experience with an Uber driver that never stopped, and with a Lyft driver that kept their "meter" running, so it kept charging me more and more money, even after I was dropped off. I had to complain about both. Although I got refunds for both, it was enough for me to know back in 2018 that I wasn't safe. I wasn't assaulted, but I could so see how easily I could have been.

I have past traumas, too. Those make it harder for me to feel safe outside. If it's too quiet, then it's too easy for people to harm me and get away with it in broad daylight, when everyone is gone at work in suburban or rural areas. If it's too busy and crime-infested, then it's too easy for me to be a target of crime at night or when it's still dark outside in the morning. I literally don't feel safe anywhere outside anymore, especially after the pandemic hit.

It's hard for me to leave my apartment, too.