[DarkMagician]

I keep worrying about how I come off to people. I just want to do the right thing. Maybe I'm worrying too much. I don't know. I don't want to come off as over emotional to people or to bother them with how I feel. For example maybe someone will ask how it's going with me and I tell them it's alright sometimes I have a lot of things going through my head but I've been coping with it. Maybe this person is kind of a new friend but I feel like I'm getting too emotional with someone but I was just trying to answer thier question honestly. So maybe I worry too much about stuff like this and what other people are thinking of me but I don't know. Everything with social situations seems confusing to me sometimes. Sometimes I'll feel stupid with things I do or say. So I just wanted to talk about this and see what people had to say.

[Yaowen]

I tend to be the same way. In my case I suppose it has something to do with how alone I am most of the time. But perhaps it also has something to do with the way I was raised, believing that my self-worth was something fragile and vulnerable and based on what people thought of me. I used to think I was 'abnormal' but now I see that 'normal' isn't a point on a line but a range of values on a bell curve.

Since I had decades of conditioning from my parents I can easily revert back into that old belief that my self-worth is vulnerable and based on the estimate of others. So I can definitely identify with what you wrote about feeling stupid about things one says or does.

Not sure any of this is of any use to you. We are all so different.

Our brains are so complex and mysterious and it is sometimes so hard to know why we end up being the way we are. I hope you are not too heavily burdened with worry. I suffer from GAD and so it can be a day to day struggle at times. I also hope others here see your post and respond to it with more helpful words than my words. Best to you!

[Have Hope]

I used to care a LOT about what people thought. To some degree, I still can worry sometimes about what others can think of me. But over time and as I got older, it sunk in further that some people will adore and love you, and some will dislike you or be indifferent. It's a matter of learning to accept this fact and to like yourself and accept yourself, most importantly. When you do learn to love yourself more and more, it matters less what others think. So, in a way, I can relate because I used to not have much self love. Self love teaches you that it really doesn't matter what other people think: it's what you think of yourself that matters.

[UnawareBS]

I have struggled with low esteem issues and when I am talking on a topic I don't have a mastery on, I get insecure. You mentioned that somebody at work has drawn you out of your comfort zone?

[DarkMagician]

Never mind was trying to answer a question but I guess he's suspended. The question didn't make any sense because I never mentioned work or anyone trying to push me out of my comfort zone.