Hello Leezer. Welcome to DS. You are far from alone with the frustration of going it alone with little or no support. In my personal herstory, deterioration is inevitable when I let my world get that small. Self-isolating remains a huge problem in my own case. Works in progress.

It is not too unusual to find internet sites with tens of thousands of members, few of whom have posted more than once and zero activity in recent years. I always check for recent activity before I bother with setting up yet another on-line account.

Digital support doesn't save me from isolation as well as live support, but it's better than nothing and all that is available here in Coronaville. DS is a better than average source of on-line support. Hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

Welcome aboard. Hope you find growth potentials here.

Welcome to the anxiety board at DS.

You've taken the important first step in writing it out.

Best wishes as you find your way to a better balance.

I am isolated and alone too. I keep thinking....wait one more year, all these shutdowns will be open, then I can go back to joining gyms and in-person groups and classes. It sucks not being around people. I keep busy and talk on the phone to people I know, but it's not the same as in-person.
I don't know what meet-up is like these days, if they are doing virtual on-line support groups, but maybe you can check out something like that until.......
hopefully things open up. But right now it's really, really hard. Hang in there, like I do, this will pass also.

Your not alone my friend it hard to reach out I feel the same about my friends they haven't really talked to me in such a long time welcome to ds I hope you find some support and advice your looking for

Welcome to DS. I just joined myself and I'm hoping that I can connect with others that are going through similar experiences. You're not alone in this. I used to shrug this kind of stuff off because I was trying to convince myself I didn't have anxiety but its only gotten worse and coming out and asking for help is the first step. Were here for you.

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I am happy to have found this group. Many people out there judge those who are anxious or depressed and think that those suffering are just feeling sorry for themselves or should just snap out of it. They don't understand and those attitudes make things worse. I am thankful to read and see that I am not alone.

I support the theory that the meanest of those **many people** are not judging me anywhere near so much as they are reminding themselves to fortify their own mask of repression. I know for sure that I am at my meanest when I am sucking ^it^ up and repressing my anxiety instead of plying therapy tools.

Whether that theory is valid, or not, vent freely here. You are not alone.

Welcome Leezer. I've found that there are good group of regulars here on DS. Hope you are able to get something out of this.

It's been a tough year all around. I was just thinking that tomorrow is March 1. That means we're just over 3 weeks shy of the 1 year anniversary of everything shutting down. In that time, I can count on one hand the number of real face to face conversations I've had with people outside my own family. The numbers where I live have been really good for a while, so I have started venturing out to a coffee shop to work from time to time so I can at least be around people. But even then, I'm not talking to anyone, and I'm mildly stressed about the fact that I'm in a room full of people. On the plus side, I've learned to identify many species of birds.

I think we have all come to really understand that humans need other people. I stand with Aldous Huxley that we are not truly social animals, but we are mildly gregarious... like dogs and wolves. We need our pack, our tribe, and, without them, we suffer. Here's to hoping that the end of that suffering comes sooner than later.

Thank you Brockster. Humans definitely need other people. My sister and I will discuss the effects that this pandemic has had and we both agree that the virus itself is only one cause for concern. Millions of people are suffering from loneliness, isolation and the stress of not being able to engage in activities that would normally be so beneficial to one's health and well-being. As someone who already suffers from anxiety/depression...this virus compounds everything. My thoughts lately are will I ever be able to go places without having to mask up again? Is this how life has to be permanently? I hate it! I want things to go back to how they were.

I hear ya. When this all started I think one of the things that really effected my ability to manage the stress and anxiety was that some of my big coping tools were to go out to coffee shops and go to the gym. Then, as life part of life getting really stressful, those things were taken away. Definitely a 1-2 combination there that knocked me on my a$$. But, I have faith things will get better. Life may not look like it did before... but it won't keep looking like it does now. I have to believe that because too much has been taken away over the past year and humans are, if nothing else, adaptive creatures. We're figuring this out.