Being around people feels weird.

I rode the bus to a close by mall to try and find shoes which I did and am glad about. But being around people was weird, haven't really rode the bus or gone many places for a while so it was quite odd. At first I had the weird sensation everyone was looking at me and noticing I'm unusual. But I just went about what I needed to do and it wasn't too terribly anxiety provoking...though I brought my valium in case I got too stressed and anxious. But yeah embarrasingly enough I was shaking some at first, like out of anxiety and so I probably looked very nervous...and I don't even know why as it wasn't an intimating situation just people shopping.

Does anyone else feel weird when they try to go out and do things.

Absolutely, I have Avpd and such an extreme social phobia there are times I do not leave the house for over a month or more (other than therapy). I always fear people are judging me, staring at me, and just feel completely awkward out in the world. I don't really feel I have a place in it.

I know what you mean, sort of not anxious but just so overwhelmed it doesn't feel real, you can't feel anything. I get that at school, just go through the day in a clouded daze, and shopping is weird and at the end of it all I feel is tired. Just being around people is exhausting but the anxiety is so normal for me now I don't notice it, I just feel really tired as a result. So your not alone, but anyway, well done for getting out and carrying on with the shopping despite your worries. Good luck with it all xxx

Ooooh! If I'm by myself on a train or bus I'm just exhaustedly trying to make myself seem busy and blend into the background. It's terribly uncomfortable :/ Good for you to go get shoes though! I've developed my own personal fear of shopping because I don't really know how to do it "properly" and I just get tired so fast from it all so now I just order almost everything online :/ except groceries. I know how to buy those.

I stand there looking at the same thing for 15 minutes or longer trying to decide which one or if I even want anything I'm looking at, its not exactly my favorite activity but its not my worst favorite either and I like some stores but yeah I get overwhelmed with it really easily, this applies to grocery shopping to. And some days there is no way I could do any kind of shopping not that I do it that terribly often to begin with.

Yes I find it hard to do things with other people around me too and I shake hard as in my whole body my spine and everything my hands my legs my knees will shake as well and the other day we went out to eat with the family and I noticed some people watching me they're probably just looking but I know that they noticed it. But I was also feeling high anxiety at a time to every time I go out recently that's how it is for me. Glad you were able to write on a bus that's awesome that's a really big deal.

~Ashley~

Sometimes i prefer to go out in the cold, then people thinking I am cold and shivering if I am shaking and don't think I am anxious. Its just so annoying I mean crap its not like I am going to die shopping, at least it is rather unlikely, cant say impossible as last time i thought that some crap happened but even so.

The only thing I don't have is fear of people. I would walk around violent towns in Central America or at the mall with people it's calming.

I think of crowds as a bunch of idiots. It's the mentality of a crowd. But no I think people are weird.. Shopping and stuff.. I mean they're so caught up in their own little world. I trip some and watch them fall down.. Just kidding.. But you can see my perspective.

Is anyone making progress with facing those fears? I am not making progress facing mine.

I generally just don't like leaving my house. Being around people is weird but being out in public is more weird for me. Like at a resturant it's too open or bright or the seating is too open, and it's not really the people but i don't want to feel open and vulnerable idk. I sometimes think it's the people who are freaking me out but really i just feel more nervous around people because it's hard to seem normal while panicking about my environment, so it's embarrassing. I do have social anxiety but i think my agoraphobia is worse. ah idk. i still go out and do stuff and sometimes i'm not all anxious but other times it's real bad and i don't know why.

Actually come to think of it for some reason if I go out on cloudy gloomy days I feel much more comfortable I have no idea why. I also wouldn't feel anxious in hot weather but that's because that kind of weather drains my energy and makes me feel brain dead which isn't much better.