First Post.

[KiaraCupcake]

Hello, everyone! I'm Kiara. I've had anxiety and depression on and off since I was barely an adolescent. I've never been medically diagnosed, but from the time I was young I knew something wasn't right with my ability to cope and manage stress.

The research I did during my teen years brought me to consider anxiety, social anxiety and depression to be the most definite cause of this. My family (aside from my brother and grandparents) have denied it because they don't think I express any signs of it. They don't see me that often, and I think that is why they have a hard time accepting it. My anxiety has reached its worst in recent years as I've gotten older and more responsibilities have fallen upon me.

I am hermit, but not always by choice. I have a disabled brother who demands my attention 90% of the time. We are very close, so close we are often mistaken as twins. But I do get very anxious when tension is happening between us. He can be possessive of me and it is hard for him to understand simple things. I also dealt with family members who treated me poorly from inappropriate actions to cruel insults which affected my well being growing up and to this day. This in turn made me more anxious and shy than I already was. It put me through depression and not wanting to continue on with life.

I'm out of school, but my anxiety has prevented me from working or driving. Thankfully, I do have transportation to take care of any necessities, but other than that I am terrified to go out. I have friends, online and irl that have always been great companions. However, meeting new people or talking to strangers has always been a struggle. I couldn't and still can't give a speech or hold an average conversation without feeling beyond nauseous. Once I get to know someone, it's a different story, though.

Basically; Any experience in life, big or small, traumatic or mild, has a huge impact on how you function in your daily lives as a result of anxiety. I hope to meet and also help others whom also deal with anxiety/social anxiety/depression and make getting by a whole lot easier one step at a time. That's all I can think of to say for now. Thank you for reading. Hope everyone is having a great time preparing for the holidays!