Having suffered from social anxiety during high school, my experience always stemmed from the past catching up to me. As well as my overall shyness when it comes to speaking to people I don't know a lot about. That continued on into college, albeit better. But I still haven't been able to shake off that feeling of things crawling on my back when I try to interact with people. I even went on and threw myself into a career where I would have to deal with people each day, where maintaining a certain composure and appearance is important. But when VRChat came out, I was able to come out of my shell slightly. I can't say I'm completely past my anxiety, but I can say I've made and continue to make great strides in overcoming it. I'm glad there are people out there that see a use for Virtual Reality that isn't just a entertainment platform.
During high school, eh? What I remember from my high school days is that all my focus went into studies, classes, and art making in art classes... 😑 ...and well... I guess all those art classes were what I needed to vent out experiences from ”three years of hell” before entering into high school... and after the high school I went into army to do my conscript service... and then, I too one teaching program course for graphical designing, from where I got to hear about datanom studies... got my datanom’s graduate papers kinda bad time as there was no need for datanoms... so I started to go ”Jack of all trade” path with University studies for machine engineering... there... things went south fast for a longer like me, as the stuff to study were heavy and hard alone (except the stuff made ”manually by hand”) and I learned too Late to find own friend circle to share the burden with... so I dropped my University studies after four years and went for vocational school basic course/line for laboratory career, what also went south (for other reasons)... Right now... I am entering another line of studies... one what I do have some amateur experiences of, and had enjoyed of doing back in my high school days: ”Audio-visuals” I have also observed and analyzed movies, TV-series’s, animations, etc. in my heads when I have had time from my studies from after the high school. It feels like I have this observant perspective and analyzing mind what could fit into audio-visual editing. But the most interesting notice of my self observation might be this one little thing, what I have not thinked that much of; ”planning visuals based on music I’m listening at that moment.” Oh well... I have also thinked about making an experimental VTubing channel for testing out various methods of entertainment... from telling stories with minifigures as visual mediums to ”puppeteering” 2D avatar sprites... as well as testing out if it would work to try model painting with AR avatar... would also love to do music videos/”short-movies”, but copyrights are not that ”flexible” on that regard... I think... 😑 But yeh. Social anxiety does seem to become quite common in this day and age... 😑
(To the OP) Yo, I feel you 100%. I'm in a similar situation where my social anxiety made it hard for me to make friends without having a mutual friend next to me to handle the introduction phase. Considering I didn't have any mutuals attend the same classes as me in college, it made social interactions THAT much more difficult and antagonizing for me. Even dating my (now, ex-) boyfriend was strange because he was just like me. After high school and then college (the latter of which I dropped out of due to several issues), I also threw myself into a profession where I'll have to face people but what I didn't realize is that I wasn't really improving on getting over my anxiety, I was only teaching myself how to behave in an environment where I can't just "run away" from my fear. Talking via text is fine but what doesn't help is that most of the time I avoid VC with people I'm helping because I'm so nervous but take advantage of the fact most people just use text chat. Recently, I've been starting to stream on Twitch to get used to my voice (a byproduct of my social anxiety) and getting comfortable with verbally interacting with people who are typing to me. I'm thinking of trying out a VR Avatar for streaming due to being slightly uncomfortable with using my camera so early on in my potential career. TL;DR To Shaun (the OP), I'm not quite over my own SA either but the fact you're willing to improve on it is a very strong attribute and I encourage you to keep up the good work!
VR Chat i think is a great way to socialise in a relatively stress free environment, since everyone is just there out of CHOICE to socialise and have a good time, so it settles your nerves a bit to know it's all kinda planned to happen? I tend to avoid multiplayer games as a whole so i kept my distance from VRC for the longest time until like 3 days ago, and now all i wanna do is play it with the new friends i've already made on it ^^ hanging out with the discord gang until 5am felt great instead of irl when i feel totally emotionally drained after spending the same amount of hours with irl friends
Thank you, Phia. This was a personally touching video. I've dealt with social anxiety for a very long time now, and I can definitely say it isn't easy to overcome. When you finally make a break through it though, it's one of the greatest feelings of satisfaction. Like, I did that. I beat my fears.
Thanks for the Vid... i have also extreme Social Anxiety... if i join a new World... my Heart starts pounding in my Chest... i feel nervous/Anxious and try to stay away from People... i knew i need to do something... i have to make the First step and i'm happy i did X3 i just approached a Guy that was Singing... i sat down next to him and just listend... i cheered him on and said how good he can sing and even quicker than i could ever imagine i made a Friend... i never thought that Talking to Complete Strangers can be so uplifting... i Talked for Hours with Random People... the longer i talked, the less anxious i felt and more Frieds i made... after a Looong time Talking and meeting so many nice People... i left the World... cuz 4 hours straight having Fun and making new Friends is Hard for me... after i was alone, i felt Amazing... i was so Proud of myself that i managed to jump over my Shadow and do what i thought i could never do... breaking out of my Social Anxiety and finaly have fun
Really like what you said about "Irrational Fears". Its something that can be frustrating when dealing with any phobia you might have, its knowing you shouldnt be afraid or worried or everything's ok, but your internal systems are screaming "DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!" I'm still not very comfortable speaking with people online or in person, but this makes me feel more open to taking that chance and building a meaningful relationship with people online. Like if YOU can live with it and do all these amazing things I can too! Thanks for a great video as always, Love from NY
Hi. I'm someone who's been working through a more generalized anxiety (including social anxiety). Over time and with "practice" those "Danger! danger! danger!" alarms in your body start going away. It takes a while, but it *does* get better.
@@shiroseki1970 Damn guess this was two years ago lol.. I've made so much progress with living a happy and fulfilling life even with some anxiety; and it might not have been VR which 'fixed it' for me, but learning so much about the person I want to be and making that happen as best I can. Hope you've been on a similar journey these past years, internet stranger. I truly wish you the best : )
@@auroralee Thank u! i have been on a similar journey these past few years, ive been betrayed a lot and its only recently that i learned to open up to people again while going through therapy, but now its gotten clearer to me how lonely i am and feel so ive been impatient with myself, thats why i was wondering how long it takes.
i started playing yesteday and the same happened. Ive been dealing with it really good over this year but i dont know if playing vr chat would make me socially less capable, and also i dont want my family hear me talking to random people in english (i speak spanish where i live). Vr chat hyped very much but know that i have it i dont know if to play it or not
Definitely a worthwhile subject matter! You've managed to bring together two of my favorite subjects (Mental Health and technology).. I think I'm even more of a fan now. 😍
Love the way Phia talks about Social Anxiety. I had agorafobia back in the days. Wasn't easy. Now I struggle with Anxiety. Being a guy that never left the house, doesn't talk with anyone and then keep up, it's hard. Love VRChat. The only thing you need to get better, is to do something. Don't give up. 😊 Believe in yourself.
I thought about this so much before I started vr, that once when my sister surprised me with my very own vr I cried. I finally thought in my head “I can have friends who like me for my personality and me not for me on the outside and my grades”. I used to think I had to be a perfect human being and fit in with crowd and hide the real me. But now I’m openly gay and dress how I want to and am no longer a push over. I thank vr chat so much for its help.. Yet I want to make something clear. I have to be real. Not everyone on there will help you or like you for you. (Been harassed by homophobic trolls) I found that out the hard way but then a released I could just bloke these people. Never ever having to see or face them again but as well as that and more importantly. I have friends who are true friends who will know when I am down and try and help not just leave me feeling uncomfortable. Because most of the people on vr chat r like you they came here for their own reason. To either get their voice back, socialise, enjoy the world of vr and be creative , meet people with the same interests, get over their phobias, and best of all make friends who like you for you 👍. Hope you all have a wonderful day and remember your valid and you should never feel pressured to be anyone else cus the most special thing about your self is that there is only one of you and no one else can be you.
Battling with social anxiety myself, I was so taken aback how wholesome and understanding this video was. I can’t face people often and I have problems maintaining a conversation without breaks. But, that idea of being able to try and face your fears slowly and in a VR environment really made me reflect. Also, your character id very cute!! I love it tons 🥰
i loved this video so much phia i think this is an amazing idea. even virtual environments make me extremely anxious but maybe its time to attempt to fix it ^^
Heya! Thank you so much for sharing this. Personally vrchat still overwhelms me and for that reason ive not got on for a while now. But im really happy that it helped u
I just wanted to thank you for your videos. I have been looking into VR for years and been fighting for disability for almost 10 years now. I am lucky I have my family to take care of me but because of some luck this last year even though the horror of covid. I got very lucky and family support and with some inheritance I upgrade my pc and got a good pc. I did not think I would be able to afford VR but got lucky again and bought a index based on videos I have seen like the ones you make. I have a lot of mental and physical issues so from what i have read on VR i heard it can help with mental and physical. I have but 10s of thousands of dollars into getting my pain to drop, help with mental and nothing has worked not even a year of physical therapy. I decided to invest in VR for entertainment and to help on both those things. I have only had it for a few days so far but VR is amazing and has me pushing myself to do more and move more. It is very hard on my body and i am not gonna over do it but i hope in time it can help build muscles, help with my crippling social anxiety disorder. I have a lot of other mental issues to but if that one a long could get just a little better maybe my life could improve just a little bit. That little bit to most is not much but that might be a life changer for me. I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful videos and i am glad that i found you. Sorry for the long message as i doubt you will read but I had to put it out there for anyone else in my situation. I am not saying it will fix anything but i am hoping in time it will help just a little bit at least.
I am on the autism spectrum and I struggled a lot interacting with people irl because I didn't have a good grasp of body language. I don't really have a good grasp of what my body is doing when I try to express an emotion so I could come across as flat. For instance, waving and saying goodbye to someone thinking I was showing a smiling face but finding out a little bit later that my face was blank without realizing it. It felt like I had to really focus on my body in order to express things properly and that often felt frustrating and I'd shut down from anxiety trying to. I found vrchat in 2018 and it helped me a lot with my anxiety. I didn't have to worry as much about what my body in real life was doing, and oddly one thing that was helpful even though many despise the overuse of mirrors was that I often had a mirror in front of me to practice with. It reduced a lot of the mental strain I felt trying to manage it and made it easy to practice my body language without the stress of lasting effects, like you said about being able to leave any time and never see the other person again. My body language improved a lot through my use of VR and I feel a lot more confident in real life interacting. I still have anxiety and it still affects me, but VR made it easier to deal with.
thx.. i downloaded vrchat just to have fun on it :) I have suffered from social anxiety for multiple years and had no idea how to control it, I went to therapists, tried different exercises, but nothing worked. i got vrchat and I felt that talking to people slowly felt less awkward. vrchat saved me from the pain of my social anxiety. it changed my life ☺
The issue for me is my parents I get so awkward when I'm talking to people online as I don't like having my parents hear about the shit I talk about so rip.
Finally, someone with the same problem like me. My sister share the same room with me and my parent always hang out in living room which is located in front of my room😅
Don’t worry I also have the same problem I share my room with my 5 year old little brother and he and my other brother have their legos all over my room they love my room lol bec of their toys I always tell them to play somewhere else my they don’t listen and it’s annoying when I tell them to close my door but when they open my door it’s so loud they barge in and I’m scared if my dad comes in and hears me saying shit and my mom to it’s just wired that why after school I take advantage and try to do it when they are not around lol
Thank you for this, I always find it hard to voice chat or call people, and the thing you said about practicing has stuck with me. Whilst I don't have access to VR chat (because I'm a mac user rip), imma still try and get into VCs to practice and stuff.
I've had social anxiety for as long as I can remember really, over the years however it's become more and more severe. It took alot for me to finally get some help and my boyfriend played a big part in that. I had group CBT for a few months and I think it did help to some extent butI think I'm just more self aware with it than I was before. I can spot when I'm doing something that doesn't make sense, like being scared to get up in a restaurant and use the bathroom or go refill my glass as the drink machine. It still takes alot of internal turmoil and struggle to push the anxiety down though, even for small things like that. I haven't had friends for 5ish years now (I'm 22), hopefully that'll change someday but in social situations I always draw blank. Ironically the only thing I can talk about is the fact that I don't know what to talk about because there's nothing there. My fingernails are almost non-existent and the skin around them is almost always tender or sore from biting, that's a habit I've had since I was little. I don't think I'll be able to stop without some serious help.. I hate doing it. The first time I went on VR chat I pretended I didn't have a mic. The second time it took me 3 hours to pluck up the courage to even say hi to anyone. I plan to keep playing it and one day I'll get VR and I'll play it even more. Hopefully it will help me open up a little more, get a little more used to talking to people and hell if I'm really lucky I might even manage to make a friend or two.. it's been such a long time
Hello are u doing all right? Just wanted to know because i struggle too with social anxiety. Also i play vrchat too! If u wanna play sometime and have a chat
@@EiderVRc Hi there, I had completely forgotten about this comment so thank for for brining me back to it! I'm doing well actually, I have a job now, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to do that. I'm still working on the nail biting but it's definitely improved a lot. I don't have proper friends yet but I do talk to more people these days than before, still not easy but I try. I haven't been on vrchat in ages now. I will get back to playing here and there but for now I have a new computer I still haven't finished setting up yet so it'll be a while 😅after work I just want to relax so sorting out all the stuff I need to download might be a while... I hope your journey is going/goes well!
hahah, always fun when somebody recognizes it if you ever do hop into VRChat, there's a world called OneShot Lounge where you can find it and a bunch of other avatars from the game.
suffering with social anxiety can be hard at times. but sometimes you just gotta deal with it. vrchat is one of the main games i play but im too scared too because of how bad my social anixty is and i hope that one day vr will help me.
Wow, I'm surprised that rec room appeared in this! I have pretty bad social anxiety and I usually only do things in private servers with friends but when I go to a open world I always go to hang out with a buddy or something. Theres also often people who are there with their partner in the so called "mirror room". I always get super uncomfortable around then aswell because I dont know what to do or what to say. Also I just want to say, this show is very awesome. Keep it up! Especially this episode helped me with my anxiety and helped me gain a few new pals these past weeks. This show helps during the pandemic. Thank you.
I wanna thank you for this video. I’ve been suffering with anxiety for as long as I could remember. It’s been super hard. I was recently moved to a new school and although I haven’t been there in person because of COVID but it’s still been really scary so I hide behind my screen and don’t turn on my camera. My sister just got a Vr headset and she’s been offering to let me use it whenever I want. I might give VR a try. Rec room was an experience but I don’t regret trying it after watching this. Thank you again for addressing this topic. ❤️
Will always thank my partner for taking me to VR Chat and dragging me from world to world. He'd talk with other strangers and I would always watch in silence while I'm still talking to him on a Discord call. Slowly, I started talking a bit here and there with him beside me. Until one day, I was able to go inside on my own, and somehow managed to make a friend. I didn't play VR Chat as often or maybe none at all for a long while. When I recently came back, it felt like a had a relapse and I was afraid all over again to talk to anyone even though I was okay enough to go online on my own. I was lucky enough to find a world called "No Time Two Talk" that lets you match up with a random person and talk to them for two minutes. It was such a good way to slowly practice talking to people again and it felt great knowing there's only another person beside you that you're supposed to talk with. It didn't feel overwhelming and scary. I even gained some new nice friends from it as well. Well, strangers are still scary. But not as much anymore :3
There's also something with eye contact and eye tracking in vrchat. In school I had a lot of trouble maintaining eye contact, could just never look people in the eye. Years went by, and I sort of just generated techniques to have conversations without it. Then VRChat came along with avatars that just seem to track you wherever you go, and for some reason, I could look into the eyes of the avatar. And then after a while at work, I don't know exactly when, It was more than six months, I realized that my conversation had me maintaining eye contact suddenly. I had even taken a hypnotherapy course and stared into another person's eyes for two straight minutes (it was to emulate the effects of a trance), and I could. I could have done that before vrchat
I also am really glad you've been able to cover so many different (yet connected) topics. And the episodes that have come after this one are another step up! You're so PHUN to watch, and i get so excited every time I see notification from your channel or discord! Can't wait for more~
I’ve started twitch streaming lately and have intense social anxiety before streams, so glad I found your channel, I’m gonna start trying to do art streams as an avatar to help me relax and practice being more expressive when I do show up as myself !
Was telling my therapist from the VA today that I've been using VR to talk to people. Even though it isnt the same as face to face interaction, it's been pretty useful to me.
Thank you, that advice actually did help. I've been having a really lonely night and having watched this it doesn't feel completely hopeless anymore. Even if I end up chickening out and not playing the game like I do most of the time, I really appreciate your content for what it is.
I have social anxity and when i started playing VRC (vrchat) i would just stand somewhere and just be dead quit. And every time someone talked to i would get really nervous and scared like every word i said would be weird or just wrong but this one day some REALLY nice Person came up to me and called me cute and i started to feel like i needed to talk and dont be shy with to this Person and i did just that and after 30minutes she started to pet me and call me cute (again) and we started to cuddle . Since that day i started talking to more people and tell jokes and they would laugh i still sometimes have the fear of talking to a Stranger but not so intennse . I will never forget that day and Person it really helped me in IRL(in real life) and in VR
love this video as I have anxiety myself vrchat has help me since I started little by little, not long ago. thank you for making this video and spreading positivity❤️
Having now had the chance to play in VR and even exploring VRChat, I've found that it has been more effective in helping other phobias than helping my social anxieties. Enough of the worlds are skyscrapers or places with cliffs that my acrophobia has been lessening significantly since I know I can't actually fall off. Socially I've been more animated in VRChat, but other than saying hello I still go completely silent unless someone actively includes me in conversation.
This video kind of hits close to home for me. After experiencing a lot of trauma in my 20's I found myself dealing with crippling social anxiety as an adult. I've tried to use VRChat as a way to start socializing again but am having a lot of difficulty finding people there. I'm in therapy but it's been hard find a way through that anxiety. I wish I'd found people in vrc but it just feels so absolutely insurmountable. I'm slowly withdrawing from the world, even the virtual world, despite not wanting it.
i know it's a little necro, but this is an area i've been researching for at least 45 years now. Your segments, the Endgame series, and several others, helps a lot of people. i hope you keep at it, and stay healthy.
Honestly, as much as this video is about social anxiety im REALLY thankful you censored the spider; i have very, very terrible arachnophobia to the point of seeing a spider on screen or even just a cobweb sets me off into a panic attack. I really appreciate you censoring the tarantula.
I’ve always been terrified of talking to people in general because I was always scared that they’d all judge me and stuff but now that I’ve been playing vrchat more lately I feel much better with people 💕
Thanks for making this video. I have social anxiety and I tend to remember all the little mistakes I make in conversation years later. It makes me hesitate when it comes to doing things or bringing up my hobbies IRL. I find VRchat a great idea for helping me move past those fears. Your channel has me learning the ins and outs of VR and helps me feel comfortable with it.
it’s crazy bc you brought up the school gym and i had a similar experience in high school, even when i saw you playing dodgeball i like had a little anxiety in my heart
I don't get many chances to meet new people honestly. Allot of people see me as this big scary guy who looks tired of everyones crap all the time and just wants to be left alone, someone actually did say that to me once, but I'm really not. Yes I do look tired but thats just me over working myself and cutting down on sleep half the time. I try to be as friendly as I can because thats the way you should be when meeting new people, but not allot of people see that sadly. In VRChat on the other hand, I meet WAY more people then I have ever have in my life and it's actually great, it's actually helping me meet new people out in the world that I would never had the chance and even learn new things. I'm still new to VR so theres a few things I still need to get use to but it's great so far and I don't think I would have done this if it wasn't for what was going on in the world, something I would have skipped pass with out even thinking about it. Also just a side note. I first spotted this channel by fluke and thought it was going to be like allot of other channels by being over hyper and in your face about stuff but I got to say it's great so far. The quality and personality of every video so far is fantastic, so keep up the awesome work!
This video has made realize that I do have social anxiety. I over think what I say and if I say something dumb and embarrass myself I linger on it for way too long and regret it heavily, even on the internet and in games where I'm pretty much anonymous. I won't go too much into detail but just know that your video helped me a lot and has pointed me in a better direction.
The thing that stops me most from socializing in VRChat is the fact that I basically hate my voice and have a lot of dysphoria over it so I'm always afraid of speaking to people
I have several friends in my group on VRChat who deal with Social Anxiety, the ability to relax with a few people and opening up allows them to overcome the problems over time.
Vrchat helped me alot with social anxiety. Ive been working on it for years and this game helped me cure my sever panic attacks. Exposure therapy is the only thing that actually helps long term. My fear has always been about my reputation. Vrchat helped me learn how to conversate more effectively. I never really practiced things like thinking long before speaking and breathing properly in my life. In person speech classes help alot, but it's pretty difficult for the majority of people, so I get why so many people use Vrchat to help with their anxiety. Vrchat is such a great way to learn how to deal with anxiety and I never even realized it when getting into this game. It's honestly improved my life, which is a weird thing to say about vrchat lmfao.
I love this so much and glad I discovered this channel! I just covered this topic too in the episode I just uploaded! Your voice is pleasant to listen to and it's great to hear your insight. There's so many misconceptions about it and I feel like it would be great if more people gave VRChat a shot when it comes to helping their social anxiety and depression, at least in tandem with professional help. Keep up the good work! Subbed and dinged
I have social anxiety and I’ve been wanting a VR headset for a long time, this video will probably convince my mom to let me play vrchat because she is pretty strict on the cursing and inappropriate stuff.
Is there a chance you could start including info or links to the music you're including in your videos! Love the songs, especially the few Porter Robinson remixes I've heard on a few episodes and I'd love to send the artists some love too. Thanks for such amazing videos btw
Usually i include midi's that i throw into reason 11 and tweak up myself, but this one includes monstercat music ^_^ i will update the description to show the songs i used here, totally slipped my mind earlier !!
I know I'm new to this channel and all but thank you for making this video it makes me feel so happy and better about myself. The first minute made me cry, thank you. I can't wait for your other future videos
It's strange for me. I get very anxious in some social situations, but am completely fine in others. Just yesterday I was shuttling mountain bikes with 2 people I didn't know. My friend introduced me and then had to leave for like half an hour before even riding (came back to ride with us shortly) and I was completely fine being crammed in the front seat with these 2 complete strangers, but I think its mostly because they seemed chill and we were all there with a shared hobby. I've also been introduced to people I don't know and even though I think they are cool people, I find it extremely awkward to be around them. Sometimes it just hits differently. I think the main thing for me is I feel awkward being social, but I want to be social. I don't want to feel left out but I don't know how to be social. I often feel like I'm ruining other people's experiences and I don't know why. I don't feel comfortable joining a group of friends if there are even just a couple of people there I don't know. I think part of the issue is that I have thought of being awkward as part of my identity for so long now and I don't know how to stop. In just the past few weeks especially, I've realized how much this has messed with me socially, ESPECIALLY in the dating world. I found VRChat to be very therapeutic in this (everything except for the dating thing). I don't know if it has helped in terms of helping me learn to feel less awkward (I mean I still feel awkward, just maybe a little less), but it has given me an outlet to find new friends and socialize, and not feel left out. It's helped me learn to feel comfortable just chatting with strangers. I can't do anything with VR right now because, in short, my audio system is a little messed up while I'm at college. But I'll be able to fix it soon when I go back home for thanksgiving break and I can't wait to get back into VR social situations, just talking with people, or drinking, or whatever in VR, even if it is uncomfortable.
*It's definitely understated* I've always naturally been avoidant to social situations, it's a loop, less exposure = more anxiety, and the anxiety makes mr avoid it. Playing VR chat for about a week helped me break that loop, I talked a lot again. (after not talking often for a long time) It really jump started my social life. I used voice chat online without any issues, I talked to people in real life without the immediate nervousness I'd have before. That's one thing I learned, it's all about exposure. I was gonna schedule weekly VR chat sessions, and consider adding challenges to improve even more such as public speaking and such. But that was all halted by my Rift S getting USB issues. Surprise... Gonna get that shit replaced and get a HP Reverb G2
About 4 or 5 years ago I started playing VRChat and it was the best thing to happen to me. I was painfully shy and very much a push over. When I first joined my heart would pound and I remember my voice being shaky as I tried to talk to people. It was terrifying but without those experiences and for the mostly kind community treating me so nicely when I started out I wouldn't be where I am now. I started out hiding behind at the time a really bad loli voice but over the years I've become confident enough to not only drop the voice as a protection but also to stand up for myself and be confident in who I am. I've also made life long friends and have a wonderful group of people I call my friends that I'd never have met if it wasn't for VRChat.
New to this channel. This is the first video of yours that I've watched. I subbed. Your voice is calming and welcoming, it makes me feel comfortable but eager to learn more, especially about a topic as interesting and relatable as this. Your anecdotes about how you experienced social anxiety IRL really made me feel included, in a strange way, because it's the same for me. Excellent video, overall.
I really liked this video. I have been deling with social anxiety for almost 14 years now since I got ptsd, my heart start to race and I get very bad panic attacks. For the last few months I have tried to force my selv into vr chat to battle this, but I still get sick to my stomac everytime I hear someone talk, plus with this corona having to stay 3meter away from people at all time in real life, kinda makes it harder to aproch someone in the chat. I just want someone to talk to, been stuck inside for 9months now, with no one to talk with
Dude I can relate to you so much, I’m still a minor, And I haven’t ever been public schooled, which really makes it difficult to talk to people, when I was 11 or so, I’d get made fun of for my voice and age, which gave me extreme social anxiety, and I’ve been looking for so many ways to cope, and I’ve been avoiding making progress on it and just being a mute, I’ll try my best to socialize more.
Actually, I think it's more difficult to socialize on VrChat for me than irl. Because in real life I at least have an ulterior reason for it, whether I'm socializing because I'm working, or at some group thing. I have a reason I'm there for, socializing comes second. Meanwhile on VrChat it's not that. Your intention is to socialize. That is primary. Not to mention, I feel like I have to be cool or interesting or neat to talk to people on VrChat. In real life I can acknowledge I'm boring and very uninteresting, but people might expect that because I'm just a guy. But in VrChat my avatar looks cool or whatever, so people see me and think, "Hmm, his avatar looks cool. I bet he's a cool dude" And they approach me. Of course my natural response is to get the heck out of there, but I want to socialize in this game. But it seems to be so difficult for me.
I've tried to play vrchat but as soon as I decide to join a world and I hear other people's voices I just freeze up and just shut down and its weird in the real world I don't struggle that bad with my anxiety like its there but since its in a real environment I just sorta just ignore how I feel and keep moving but virtual interactions seems and feels completely different like it almost feels like my fears have been doubled for no apparent reason at all like I know there's nothing to fear and its hard to describe what makes me scared to be social but idk its just feels like the most difficult thing in the world when you finally try and make yourself do it.
I love it when someone tells me how irrational my fear is, like yeah I know it's extremely irrational, still not going to make it go away! You can be scared that someone will break into your house, you know it's pretty unlikely (most of the time) but it still doesn't make the fear go away.
Some people in this game show their true colors by acting how they would IRL if they had no physical or long-standing consequences. So it's a good judge of character if you see someone who's nice in game because they really don't have much incentive to be
ive had social anxiety for a while and its only when im in vrchat, when im casually talking to someone irl like in a store for example im completely calm and relaxed as im able to identify someone's personality and mood, therefore i know what to say (im autistic and a bit slow to process stuff so i have to think a bit harder about what to say sometimes) while in vrchat since people can change avitars quite often and moods are harder to identify from lack of natural facial expressions it screws up my thought process and im not able to identify what to say and what not to say which causes anxiety spikes when im hanging out with someone i dont know or with more than a small group of people. however i think this video alone has helped as it made me realize that i can still study speech patterns which i think i forgot about. its a struggle but im trying atleast.
Social engagement irl is so much easier for me because, to me, looks don't matter and they can't respond extremely negatively, they can disagree irl but they can't say anything crazy in response. Online is like the wild west and vrchat not only gives you this unfiltered version of conversations but now you can see how they respond physically, it feels more real, I can take shit talk from team mates in valorant or csgo but I feel so much more insecure in vr because it feels like I'm really talking to a person, not some random voice that I don't really care about. Tl:dr I'm more insecure in vr then i am irl or in other games (Sorry for late comment lol)
I'm self confident about not having VR gear while talking to people in VRchat as if people are judging me for that. Very odd and irrational but it makes me really uncomfortable. Thanks for the show, I subscribed!
Because of this Video I now want to try and hopefully remove my fear of the stage or when ever I am in a crowd. Thank you so much. I kinda undrstand the CBT concept because of this video.
I have a very hard time socializing with people IRL, and I was also thinking about trying out VRC for the first time once I receive my VR headset this week. I also want to practice my English, I kinda understand it very well but when it comes to talking I struggle very very much especially with the stupid anxiety. It will be killing two birds with one stone for me: Getting a little bit over my social anxiety & speaking to people in English.
To be honest, vrchat is worst for my anxiety, I mean sure it’s a place where I found my closest friends and lover and I’m forever grateful for that, trying to make friends nowadays however is stressful as hell. For one it’s impossible to be yourself truly on that game without having to deal with indifference every moment you spend there, and nowadays people will either bully you cause it’s funny or call you a terrible person for making human mistakes. It’s very easy for people to judge you so quickly in that place and normally it wouldn’t be a problem if you simply didn’t care what they think, but it’s not about you caring, it’s about them caring. Them caring enough to threaten you and your friends for existing and having information dox in a blink of an eye, caring enough to spread information about you until your reputation is ruined forever. And the worst part about it is that you might not even deserve the treatment, sometimes you can just get bullied out of community’s for just having your own opinions. So whenever I get on that game I have to remind myself that I’m there for me and no one else, cause In the end there’s no point in letting the bully’s win because they can’t control your happiness. To whoever reads this and however you take this, just know that I’m incredibly sorry if you had been through this as well, and so long as you go there for your sake, just be safe and I hope you have a great day every day.
I have social anxiety but also It's just that I know no one wants me to be around and if I'm not around they will still have fun and not care if I'm gone. I just feel very replaceable online like if I meet someone and I think we get along I'll hop off and when I get back on, they have already found someone new. I feel like every time I do meet some nice people I mess it up and currently I've got no friends irl or online and I feel lonely a lot of the time. I wish people understood this feeling of being replaceable like if I just disappeared no one would really care and lives would not be impacted.
Not going to drop any names, due to him being a pretty big name in VRC and has a large following and lots of subs and followers, but one of my friends used VRC as therapy for his Social Anxiety. I haven't known him as long as some of our shared friends, but he was apparently very quiet when he started playing. He then started coming out more and more, his twin brother being with him most of the time helped a bit. Then they started a discord server and that combo'd with VRC really helped him open up. Now, you almost can't get him to shut up and he knows so many other big VRC names and even crashes their streams, while he's streaming, sometimes too! He's apparently still pretty quiet in real life, though. I have a few other friends in VRC who have bad social anxiety who are using it as a form of therapy, too. It's been very slow for one of them, though. He often gets overloaded and wanders off or hides. We usually leave him alone, but I sometimes just go over to him and sit near him. No talking, to to let him know he's still accepted. But since he's started streaming, he's opened up a bit more recently, still has periods where he's overloaded, though. You can always tell when he's in a good mood and open to social things when he dances, though. A lot of people don't understand how things that aren't labeled as 'Therapy' can actually be therapy. Like when youtubers get comment or emails from fans about how they helped that fan get through some hard things. Or like the rapper NF, who uses his music as therapy. I used music and video games as therapy to get through the majority of the damage caused by my last breakup, including social anxiety in real life and online. I didn't socialize much outside of the circle of friends I'd had since high school. I then started playing VRC a little, very quiet at the start. Didn't really make friends. Then I started watching Naggz21, joined the VRC Community Discord, found a friend, followed her to Ryan1993UK's Discord, then her Discord. I started talking more and more in various discord servers, not just her's. Made more friends, too. Became active in a handful of them. Met the man who would become my boyfriend in her server. At the time, we were friends. I knew he was bi, but I hadn't accepted my bi-side, yet. Then I slowly accepted my bi-side, things happened, had a few short-lived boyfriends that didn't go much of anywhere. Then bonded with my bf, one thing led to another, and here we are about to celebrate 1.5 years! My most loving, most natural feeling, and easiest relationship I've ever had! We still have a couple 'walls' left from damage caused by my ex and the break-up, but we're working on it and he's very patient and understanding. He's become a form of therapy for me, too. All this to say, anything can be therapy and can help to varying degrees. Therapy is anything that helps you forget your pain or mental issues for a bit, but at the same time, reconcile with them and slowly change that aspect. There were a lot of therapies, that weren't labeled therapy, that went into me overcoming the darkest parts of my depression. No medication or doctor involved. They all involved escaping real life and spending time with friends who cared for me. VRC is a great place to do that, even if it's desktop mode(like me) and an hour a day.
I've tried over and over again but I can't do it. Every time someone starts speaking to me, I can't bring myself to speak and I end up getting off feel worse than when I got on.
whenever I try to engage in a social thing, even attempting to join social vrchat worlds, i get so stressed and i end up only in private worlds alone. Im really trying to get through it and find the courage to join a public world and talk
I passed the "hell I'm gonna die" stages thanks to my university lecturer forcing me to do presentations. My main problem now is that I have no idea how to continue a convo and added language barrier if I'm talking to a foreigner. I have been playing VRChat since I got myself a Quest. I'm not going to lie, it helped me with my general shyness around ppl and talking in a foreign language. I used to be that "mute" fella hanging out in the background, but these days I get to spend time with ppl every now and then. But, the problem with sustaining a convo still persists and destroys the aforementioned moments, which is smth I always had and hated. It's like my ability to talk dwindles down to a toddlers, my brain becomes an empty clearing, and i have no idea what to say next.
Vrchat help me so much in just a month, when I first started, I was faking afk when someone say hi to me because I was so scared, I don't do much now, I just say hi too, but well, it's a bit more enjoyable now, I was scared of people, and sometime i'm still am, but i'm already happy that now I have the strenght to say hi when someone come talk to me, and I even have 2 small conversations ! I'm not very talkative, but I and my friends see improvement with me, it's very hard, sometime I'm just not in the mood but I wanna see people talking, i'm still stress and anxious when people talk with me but they are often kind and patient so it's always good in the end ! I really want to buy a vr set now, because I enjoy my time in vrchat, and beeing in a long distance relationship, I feel a bit closer to my boyfriend, because I can see a part of him? I don't really know but VRchat is such a good thing for me at the moment, I wish I was less shy to connect a bit more, but when I go on there, it's always good ♥
I've also been struggling a lot with social anxiety and lacking self-esteem, so I looked for an opportunity to overcome my fear and start living normally. But my parents don't quite understand my anxiety, they think i'm exaggerating and don't want to get me a therapist. Soon after that I found out about VRChat and I knew, that this was my chance to start over and learn to socialize. Unfortunately I can't afford a VR-Headset.
I have a case of social anxiety... but... hmm... how do I explain this..... it's not the fact that there will be eyes on me occasionally that tips my anxiety off... more so what they think of me. now you can say it's not me, it's them, and you can say that I could just leave and not deal with them... but that is just running away from your problems. running from fear is not recommended, it only makes the fear stronger. on top of that, I don't want some random person to harbor bad emotions like anger, or depression after talking with me. I want to get along with people, i really do... it's just... the weight of a bad memory is about as crippling as a broken leg... maybe worse...
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
Is no one gonna talk about how nice the Intro sounds and looks?
Visuals done by ThinkLumi and music/audio done by me, thanks :D
Is this the REAL PROTOSTAR? Jk, you did a banger job though.
It's very elegant and short. Looks perfect to me
@@blek6457 thanks guys!
This channel has great editing and production!
Having suffered from social anxiety during high school, my experience always stemmed from the past catching up to me. As well as my overall shyness when it comes to speaking to people I don't know a lot about. That continued on into college, albeit better. But I still haven't been able to shake off that feeling of things crawling on my back when I try to interact with people. I even went on and threw myself into a career where I would have to deal with people each day, where maintaining a certain composure and appearance is important. But when VRChat came out, I was able to come out of my shell slightly. I can't say I'm completely past my anxiety, but I can say I've made and continue to make great strides in overcoming it.
I'm glad there are people out there that see a use for Virtual Reality that isn't just a entertainment platform.
During high school, eh?
What I remember from my high school days is that all my focus went into studies, classes, and art making in art classes... 😑
...and well... I guess all those art classes were what I needed to vent out experiences from ”three years of hell” before entering into high school... and after the high school I went into army to do my conscript service... and then, I too one teaching program course for graphical designing, from where I got to hear about datanom studies... got my datanom’s graduate papers kinda bad time as there was no need for datanoms... so I started to go ”Jack of all trade” path with University studies for machine engineering... there... things went south fast for a longer like me, as the stuff to study were heavy and hard alone (except the stuff made ”manually by hand”) and I learned too Late to find own friend circle to share the burden with... so I dropped my University studies after four years and went for vocational school basic course/line for laboratory career, what also went south (for other reasons)...
Right now... I am entering another line of studies... one what I do have some amateur experiences of, and had enjoyed of doing back in my high school days: ”Audio-visuals”
I have also observed and analyzed movies, TV-series’s, animations, etc. in my heads when I have had time from my studies from after the high school. It feels like I have this observant perspective and analyzing mind what could fit into audio-visual editing.
But the most interesting notice of my self observation might be this one little thing, what I have not thinked that much of; ”planning visuals based on music I’m listening at that moment.”
Oh well... I have also thinked about making an experimental VTubing channel for testing out various methods of entertainment... from telling stories with minifigures as visual mediums to ”puppeteering” 2D avatar sprites... as well as testing out if it would work to try model painting with AR avatar... would also love to do music videos/”short-movies”, but copyrights are not that ”flexible” on that regard... I think... 😑
But yeh. Social anxiety does seem to become quite common in this day and age... 😑
It took me like 5 minutes to fully read this lol
@@ghosted9669 please don't come to my house
(To the OP) Yo, I feel you 100%. I'm in a similar situation where my social anxiety made it hard for me to make friends without having a mutual friend next to me to handle the introduction phase. Considering I didn't have any mutuals attend the same classes as me in college, it made social interactions THAT much more difficult and antagonizing for me. Even dating my (now, ex-) boyfriend was strange because he was just like me. After high school and then college (the latter of which I dropped out of due to several issues), I also threw myself into a profession where I'll have to face people but what I didn't realize is that I wasn't really improving on getting over my anxiety, I was only teaching myself how to behave in an environment where I can't just "run away" from my fear. Talking via text is fine but what doesn't help is that most of the time I avoid VC with people I'm helping because I'm so nervous but take advantage of the fact most people just use text chat. Recently, I've been starting to stream on Twitch to get used to my voice (a byproduct of my social anxiety) and getting comfortable with verbally interacting with people who are typing to me. I'm thinking of trying out a VR Avatar for streaming due to being slightly uncomfortable with using my camera so early on in my potential career.
TL;DR To Shaun (the OP), I'm not quite over my own SA either but the fact you're willing to improve on it is a very strong attribute and I encourage you to keep up the good work!
I feel that I'm only in 10th grade but mine started to develop during 7th grade, my first year of middle school
VR Chat i think is a great way to socialise in a relatively stress free environment, since everyone is just there out of CHOICE to socialise and have a good time, so it settles your nerves a bit to know it's all kinda planned to happen? I tend to avoid multiplayer games as a whole so i kept my distance from VRC for the longest time until like 3 days ago, and now all i wanna do is play it with the new friends i've already made on it ^^ hanging out with the discord gang until 5am felt great instead of irl when i feel totally emotionally drained after spending the same amount of hours with irl friends
VRC scared me a lot at first!! I'm so happy you got so much from the meetup, and i agree, VRchat gets addicting very quick hehe
Thank you, Phia. This was a personally touching video. I've dealt with social anxiety for a very long time now, and I can definitely say it isn't easy to overcome. When you finally make a break through it though, it's one of the greatest feelings of satisfaction. Like, I did that. I beat my fears.
Beating your fears is the best, most rewarding feeling :) hard work brings great things
Thanks for the Vid... i have also extreme Social Anxiety... if i join a new World... my Heart starts pounding in my Chest... i feel nervous/Anxious and try to stay away from People...
i knew i need to do something... i have to make the First step and i'm happy i did X3
i just approached a Guy that was Singing... i sat down next to him and just listend... i cheered him on and said how good he can sing and even quicker than i could ever imagine i made a Friend... i never thought that Talking to Complete Strangers can be so uplifting... i Talked for Hours with Random People... the longer i talked, the less anxious i felt and more Frieds i made... after a Looong time Talking and meeting so many nice People... i left the World... cuz 4 hours straight having Fun and making new Friends is Hard for me... after i was alone, i felt Amazing... i was so Proud of myself that i managed to jump over my Shadow and do what i thought i could never do... breaking out of my Social Anxiety and finaly have fun
Really like what you said about "Irrational Fears". Its something that can be frustrating when dealing with any phobia you might have, its knowing you shouldnt be afraid or worried or everything's ok, but your internal systems are screaming "DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!" I'm still not very comfortable speaking with people online or in person, but this makes me feel more open to taking that chance and building a meaningful relationship with people online. Like if YOU can live with it and do all these amazing things I can too! Thanks for a great video as always, Love from NY
Hi. I'm someone who's been working through a more generalized anxiety (including social anxiety). Over time and with "practice" those "Danger! danger! danger!" alarms in your body start going away. It takes a while, but it *does* get better.
@@Otome_chan311 thanks a lot, best of luck to you on this journey
Hello, did it get any better for you?
@@shiroseki1970 Damn guess this was two years ago lol.. I've made so much progress with living a happy and fulfilling life even with some anxiety; and it might not have been VR which 'fixed it' for me, but learning so much about the person I want to be and making that happen as best I can.
Hope you've been on a similar journey these past years, internet stranger. I truly wish you the best : )
@@auroralee Thank u! i have been on a similar journey these past few years, ive been betrayed a lot and its only recently that i learned to open up to people again while going through therapy, but now its gotten clearer to me how lonely i am and feel so ive been impatient with myself, thats why i was wondering how long it takes.
I originally found more social anxiety in VRChat than I did in real life. It really helped once I got used to it.
i started playing yesteday and the same happened. Ive been dealing with it really good over this year but i dont know if playing vr chat would make me socially less capable, and also i dont want my family hear me talking to random people in english (i speak spanish where i live). Vr chat hyped very much but know that i have it i dont know if to play it or not
You are a great person you deserve more people to see this
she is?
You're a great guy too bob ross
@@rileymacintyre9678 aw thanks
i’m a very shy person and i don’t like talking a lot but vrchat helped me be able to talk normally with people
Definitely a worthwhile subject matter! You've managed to bring together two of my favorite subjects (Mental Health and technology).. I think I'm even more of a fan now. 😍
I like your personality, it's charming and you seem cheerfully funny, I hope i could see you in vrchat one day : )
Love the way Phia talks about Social Anxiety. I had agorafobia back in the days. Wasn't easy. Now I struggle with Anxiety. Being a guy that never left the house, doesn't talk with anyone and then keep up, it's hard. Love VRChat. The only thing you need to get better, is to do something. Don't give up. 😊 Believe in yourself.
I thought about this so much before I started vr, that once when my sister surprised me with my very own vr I cried. I finally thought in my head “I can have friends who like me for my personality and me not for me on the outside and my grades”.
I used to think I had to be a perfect human being and fit in with crowd and hide the real me.
But now I’m openly gay and dress how I want to and am no longer a push over.
I thank vr chat so much for its help..
Yet I want to make something clear.
I have to be real.
Not everyone on there will help you or like you for you. (Been harassed by homophobic trolls)
I found that out the hard way but then a released I could just bloke these people. Never ever having to see or face them again but as well as that and more importantly.
I have friends who are true friends who will know when I am down and try and help not just leave me feeling uncomfortable.
Because most of the people on vr chat r like you they came here for their own reason.
To either get their voice back, socialise, enjoy the world of vr and be creative , meet people with the same interests, get over their phobias, and best of all make friends who like you for you 👍.
Hope you all have a wonderful day and remember your valid and you should never feel pressured to be anyone else cus the most special thing about your self is that there is only one of you and no one else can be you.
Battling with social anxiety myself, I was so taken aback how wholesome and understanding this video was. I can’t face people often and I have problems maintaining a conversation without breaks. But, that idea of being able to try and face your fears slowly and in a VR environment really made me reflect. Also, your character id very cute!! I love it tons 🥰
i loved this video so much phia i think this is an amazing idea. even virtual environments make me extremely anxious but maybe its time to attempt to fix it ^^
This is actually really unique, explaining in VR about something with VR I like the style!
Heya! Thank you so much for sharing this. Personally vrchat still overwhelms me and for that reason ive not got on for a while now. But im really happy that it helped u
I just wanted to thank you for your videos. I have been looking into VR for years and been fighting for disability for almost 10 years now. I am lucky I have my family to take care of me but because of some luck this last year even though the horror of covid. I got very lucky and family support and with some inheritance I upgrade my pc and got a good pc. I did not think I would be able to afford VR but got lucky again and bought a index based on videos I have seen like the ones you make. I have a lot of mental and physical issues so from what i have read on VR i heard it can help with mental and physical. I have but 10s of thousands of dollars into getting my pain to drop, help with mental and nothing has worked not even a year of physical therapy. I decided to invest in VR for entertainment and to help on both those things. I have only had it for a few days so far but VR is amazing and has me pushing myself to do more and move more. It is very hard on my body and i am not gonna over do it but i hope in time it can help build muscles, help with my crippling social anxiety disorder. I have a lot of other mental issues to but if that one a long could get just a little better maybe my life could improve just a little bit. That little bit to most is not much but that might be a life changer for me. I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful videos and i am glad that i found you. Sorry for the long message as i doubt you will read but I had to put it out there for anyone else in my situation. I am not saying it will fix anything but i am hoping in time it will help just a little bit at least.
I am on the autism spectrum and I struggled a lot interacting with people irl because I didn't have a good grasp of body language. I don't really have a good grasp of what my body is doing when I try to express an emotion so I could come across as flat. For instance, waving and saying goodbye to someone thinking I was showing a smiling face but finding out a little bit later that my face was blank without realizing it. It felt like I had to really focus on my body in order to express things properly and that often felt frustrating and I'd shut down from anxiety trying to.
I found vrchat in 2018 and it helped me a lot with my anxiety. I didn't have to worry as much about what my body in real life was doing, and oddly one thing that was helpful even though many despise the overuse of mirrors was that I often had a mirror in front of me to practice with. It reduced a lot of the mental strain I felt trying to manage it and made it easy to practice my body language without the stress of lasting effects, like you said about being able to leave any time and never see the other person again. My body language improved a lot through my use of VR and I feel a lot more confident in real life interacting. I still have anxiety and it still affects me, but VR made it easier to deal with.
thx.. i downloaded vrchat just to have fun on it :)
I have suffered from social anxiety for multiple years and had no idea how to control it,
I went to therapists, tried different exercises, but nothing worked. i got vrchat and I felt that talking to people slowly felt less awkward. vrchat saved me from the pain of my social anxiety. it changed my life ☺
The issue for me is my parents I get so awkward when I'm talking to people online as I don't like having my parents hear about the shit I talk about so rip.
Finally, someone with the same problem like me. My sister share the same room with me and my parent always hang out in living room which is located in front of my room😅
Don’t worry I also have the same problem I share my room with my 5 year old little brother and he and my other brother have their legos all over my room they love my room lol bec of their toys I always tell them to play somewhere else my they don’t listen and it’s annoying when I tell them to close my door but when they open my door it’s so loud they barge in and I’m scared if my dad comes in and hears me saying shit and my mom to it’s just wired that why after school I take advantage and try to do it when they are not around lol
holy shoot i love how well polished these videos are
Thank you for this, I always find it hard to voice chat or call people, and the thing you said about practicing has stuck with me. Whilst I don't have access to VR chat (because I'm a mac user rip), imma still try and get into VCs to practice and stuff.
I've had social anxiety for as long as I can remember really, over the years however it's become more and more severe. It took alot for me to finally get some help and my boyfriend played a big part in that. I had group CBT for a few months and I think it did help to some extent butI think I'm just more self aware with it than I was before. I can spot when I'm doing something that doesn't make sense, like being scared to get up in a restaurant and use the bathroom or go refill my glass as the drink machine. It still takes alot of internal turmoil and struggle to push the anxiety down though, even for small things like that. I haven't had friends for 5ish years now (I'm 22), hopefully that'll change someday but in social situations I always draw blank. Ironically the only thing I can talk about is the fact that I don't know what to talk about because there's nothing there. My fingernails are almost non-existent and the skin around them is almost always tender or sore from biting, that's a habit I've had since I was little. I don't think I'll be able to stop without some serious help.. I hate doing it.
The first time I went on VR chat I pretended I didn't have a mic. The second time it took me 3 hours to pluck up the courage to even say hi to anyone. I plan to keep playing it and one day I'll get VR and I'll play it even more. Hopefully it will help me open up a little more, get a little more used to talking to people and hell if I'm really lucky I might even manage to make a friend or two.. it's been such a long time
Hello are u doing all right? Just wanted to know because i struggle too with social anxiety. Also i play vrchat too! If u wanna play sometime and have a chat
@@EiderVRc Hi there, I had completely forgotten about this comment so thank for for brining me back to it!
I'm doing well actually, I have a job now, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to do that. I'm still working on the nail biting but it's definitely improved a lot. I don't have proper friends yet but I do talk to more people these days than before, still not easy but I try.
I haven't been on vrchat in ages now. I will get back to playing here and there but for now I have a new computer I still haven't finished setting up yet so it'll be a while 😅after work I just want to relax so sorting out all the stuff I need to download might be a while...
I hope your journey is going/goes well!
I got stupidly excited when I saw the one shot character.
Great video, I really want to get VR. Looks awesome.
hahah, always fun when somebody recognizes it
if you ever do hop into VRChat, there's a world called OneShot Lounge where you can find it and a bunch of other avatars from the game.
@@MangoPoppy10 That would be cool as hell. That was an awesome game. Even more reason to join in.
suffering with social anxiety can be hard at times. but sometimes you just gotta deal with it. vrchat is one of the main games i play but im too scared too because of how bad my social anixty is and i hope that one day vr will help me.
were using SAO logic now. VR guns don't trigger trauma.
Except in SAO the VR gun did end up causing trauma for Simon when she saw a specific gun in game
I feel like that logic didn’t make much sense. Just like the rest of the anime really.
@@Omlet221 The logic does make since if you understand psychology which a lot of people dont understand a lot
Wow, I'm surprised that rec room appeared in this! I have pretty bad social anxiety and I usually only do things in private servers with friends but when I go to a open world I always go to hang out with a buddy or something. Theres also often people who are there with their partner in the so called "mirror room". I always get super uncomfortable around then aswell because I dont know what to do or what to say. Also I just want to say, this show is very awesome. Keep it up! Especially this episode helped me with my anxiety and helped me gain a few new pals these past weeks. This show helps during the pandemic. Thank you.
Phia, this is awesome. Thank you so much. :D
I wanna thank you for this video. I’ve been suffering with anxiety for as long as I could remember. It’s been super hard. I was recently moved to a new school and although I haven’t been there in person because of COVID but it’s still been really scary so I hide behind my screen and don’t turn on my camera. My sister just got a Vr headset and she’s been offering to let me use it whenever I want. I might give VR a try. Rec room was an experience but I don’t regret trying it after watching this. Thank you again for addressing this topic. ❤️
Will always thank my partner for taking me to VR Chat and dragging me from world to world. He'd talk with other strangers and I would always watch in silence while I'm still talking to him on a Discord call. Slowly, I started talking a bit here and there with him beside me. Until one day, I was able to go inside on my own, and somehow managed to make a friend.
I didn't play VR Chat as often or maybe none at all for a long while. When I recently came back, it felt like a had a relapse and I was afraid all over again to talk to anyone even though I was okay enough to go online on my own. I was lucky enough to find a world called "No Time Two Talk" that lets you match up with a random person and talk to them for two minutes. It was such a good way to slowly practice talking to people again and it felt great knowing there's only another person beside you that you're supposed to talk with. It didn't feel overwhelming and scary. I even gained some new nice friends from it as well.
Well, strangers are still scary. But not as much anymore :3
There's also something with eye contact and eye tracking in vrchat.
In school I had a lot of trouble maintaining eye contact, could just never look people in the eye. Years went by, and I sort of just generated techniques to have conversations without it.
Then VRChat came along with avatars that just seem to track you wherever you go, and for some reason, I could look into the eyes of the avatar.
And then after a while at work, I don't know exactly when, It was more than six months, I realized that my conversation had me maintaining eye contact suddenly.
I had even taken a hypnotherapy course and stared into another person's eyes for two straight minutes (it was to emulate the effects of a trance), and I could. I could have done that before vrchat
I also am really glad you've been able to cover so many different (yet connected) topics. And the episodes that have come after this one are another step up! You're so PHUN to watch, and i get so excited every time I see notification from your channel or discord!
Can't wait for more~
The Graphics and Music are so good! this is Quality content for sure!
i hope i can join in and talk to you in VRchat someday
pay up, lol 💷(patreon)
I’ve started twitch streaming lately and have intense social anxiety before streams, so glad I found your channel, I’m gonna start trying to do art streams as an avatar to help me relax and practice being more expressive when I do show up as myself !
Was telling my therapist from the VA today that I've been using VR to talk to people. Even though it isnt the same as face to face interaction, it's been pretty useful to me.
Thank you Phia, this is a great video to approach social anxiety thru a different medium . I didn't even think it could be approached this way.
Thank you, that advice actually did help. I've been having a really lonely night and having watched this it doesn't feel completely hopeless anymore. Even if I end up chickening out and not playing the game like I do most of the time, I really appreciate your content for what it is.
I have social anxity and when i started playing VRC (vrchat) i would just stand somewhere and just be dead quit. And every time someone talked to i would get really nervous and scared like every word i said would be weird or just wrong but this one day some REALLY nice Person came up to me and called me cute and i started to feel like i needed to talk and dont be shy with to this Person and i did just that and after 30minutes she started to pet me and call me cute (again) and we started to cuddle . Since that day i started talking to more people and tell jokes and they would laugh i still sometimes have the fear of talking to a Stranger but not so intennse . I will never forget that day and Person it really helped me in IRL(in real life) and in VR
Literally playing vr chat a bunch before I came back to school made me able to talk to anyone easily
love this video as I have anxiety myself vrchat has help me since I started little by little, not long ago. thank you for making this video and spreading positivity❤️
Having now had the chance to play in VR and even exploring VRChat, I've found that it has been more effective in helping other phobias than helping my social anxieties. Enough of the worlds are skyscrapers or places with cliffs that my acrophobia has been lessening significantly since I know I can't actually fall off. Socially I've been more animated in VRChat, but other than saying hello I still go completely silent unless someone actively includes me in conversation.
This video kind of hits close to home for me. After experiencing a lot of trauma in my 20's I found myself dealing with crippling social anxiety as an adult. I've tried to use VRChat as a way to start socializing again but am having a lot of difficulty finding people there. I'm in therapy but it's been hard find a way through that anxiety. I wish I'd found people in vrc but it just feels so absolutely insurmountable. I'm slowly withdrawing from the world, even the virtual world, despite not wanting it.
i know it's a little necro, but this is an area i've been researching for at least 45 years now. Your segments, the Endgame series, and several others, helps a lot of people. i hope you keep at it, and stay healthy.
Not only this, VRChat has been an avenue for people to open up about their problems more easily than in real life
Honestly, as much as this video is about social anxiety im REALLY thankful you censored the spider; i have very, very terrible arachnophobia to the point of seeing a spider on screen or even just a cobweb sets me off into a panic attack. I really appreciate you censoring the tarantula.
I’ve always been terrified of talking to people in general because I was always scared that they’d all judge me and stuff but now that I’ve been playing vrchat more lately I feel much better with people 💕
Thanks for making this video. I have social anxiety and I tend to remember all the little mistakes I make in conversation years later. It makes me hesitate when it comes to doing things or bringing up my hobbies IRL. I find VRchat a great idea for helping me move past those fears. Your channel has me learning the ins and outs of VR and helps me feel comfortable with it.
it’s crazy bc you brought up the school gym and i had a similar experience in high school, even when i saw you playing dodgeball i like had a little anxiety in my heart
I don't get many chances to meet new people honestly. Allot of people see me as this big scary guy who looks tired of everyones crap all the time and just wants to be left alone, someone actually did say that to me once, but I'm really not. Yes I do look tired but thats just me over working myself and cutting down on sleep half the time. I try to be as friendly as I can because thats the way you should be when meeting new people, but not allot of people see that sadly.
In VRChat on the other hand, I meet WAY more people then I have ever have in my life and it's actually great, it's actually helping me meet new people out in the world that I would never had the chance and even learn new things. I'm still new to VR so theres a few things I still need to get use to but it's great so far and I don't think I would have done this if it wasn't for what was going on in the world, something I would have skipped pass with out even thinking about it.
Also just a side note. I first spotted this channel by fluke and thought it was going to be like allot of other channels by being over hyper and in your face about stuff but I got to say it's great so far. The quality and personality of every video so far is fantastic, so keep up the awesome work!
This video has made realize that I do have social anxiety. I over think what I say and if I say something dumb and embarrass myself I linger on it for way too long and regret it heavily, even on the internet and in games where I'm pretty much anonymous. I won't go too much into detail but just know that your video helped me a lot and has pointed me in a better direction.
Hey, I doubt you’ll see this but have you broke out of this? Have you found any solutions that worked for you? I’d really appreciate the help
Did you
The thing that stops me most from socializing in VRChat is the fact that I basically hate my voice and have a lot of dysphoria over it so I'm always afraid of speaking to people
I have several friends in my group on VRChat who deal with Social Anxiety, the ability to relax with a few people and opening up allows them to overcome the problems over time.
Vrchat helped me alot with social anxiety. Ive been working on it for years and this game helped me cure my sever panic attacks. Exposure therapy is the only thing that actually helps long term. My fear has always been about my reputation. Vrchat helped me learn how to conversate more effectively. I never really practiced things like thinking long before speaking and breathing properly in my life. In person speech classes help alot, but it's pretty difficult for the majority of people, so I get why so many people use Vrchat to help with their anxiety. Vrchat is such a great way to learn how to deal with anxiety and I never even realized it when getting into this game. It's honestly improved my life, which is a weird thing to say about vrchat lmfao.
I love this so much and glad I discovered this channel! I just covered this topic too in the episode I just uploaded!
Your voice is pleasant to listen to and it's great to hear your insight. There's so many misconceptions about it and I feel like it would be great if more people gave VRChat a shot when it comes to helping their social anxiety and depression, at least in tandem with professional help. Keep up the good work! Subbed and dinged
I have social anxiety and I’ve been wanting a VR headset for a long time, this video will probably convince my mom to let me play vrchat because she is pretty strict on the cursing and inappropriate stuff.
One of my favorite videos not just that you've made, but that I've ever seen. You did great for this one, Phia.
Is there a chance you could start including info or links to the music you're including in your videos! Love the songs, especially the few Porter Robinson remixes I've heard on a few episodes and I'd love to send the artists some love too. Thanks for such amazing videos btw
Usually i include midi's that i throw into reason 11 and tweak up myself, but this one includes monstercat music ^_^ i will update the description to show the songs i used here, totally slipped my mind earlier !!
@@TheVirtualRealityShow That's great thanks! Have a good one Phia, you're amazing.
@@TheVirtualRealityShow I think it would be important to link to the artist you used in the thumbnail as well..
I know I'm new to this channel and all but thank you for making this video it makes me feel so happy and better about myself. The first minute made me cry, thank you. I can't wait for your other future videos
It's strange for me. I get very anxious in some social situations, but am completely fine in others. Just yesterday I was shuttling mountain bikes with 2 people I didn't know. My friend introduced me and then had to leave for like half an hour before even riding (came back to ride with us shortly) and I was completely fine being crammed in the front seat with these 2 complete strangers, but I think its mostly because they seemed chill and we were all there with a shared hobby. I've also been introduced to people I don't know and even though I think they are cool people, I find it extremely awkward to be around them. Sometimes it just hits differently.
I think the main thing for me is I feel awkward being social, but I want to be social. I don't want to feel left out but I don't know how to be social. I often feel like I'm ruining other people's experiences and I don't know why. I don't feel comfortable joining a group of friends if there are even just a couple of people there I don't know. I think part of the issue is that I have thought of being awkward as part of my identity for so long now and I don't know how to stop. In just the past few weeks especially, I've realized how much this has messed with me socially, ESPECIALLY in the dating world.
I found VRChat to be very therapeutic in this (everything except for the dating thing). I don't know if it has helped in terms of helping me learn to feel less awkward (I mean I still feel awkward, just maybe a little less), but it has given me an outlet to find new friends and socialize, and not feel left out. It's helped me learn to feel comfortable just chatting with strangers. I can't do anything with VR right now because, in short, my audio system is a little messed up while I'm at college. But I'll be able to fix it soon when I go back home for thanksgiving break and I can't wait to get back into VR social situations, just talking with people, or drinking, or whatever in VR, even if it is uncomfortable.
*It's definitely understated*
I've always naturally been avoidant to social situations, it's a loop, less exposure = more anxiety, and the anxiety makes mr avoid it.
Playing VR chat for about a week helped me break that loop, I talked a lot again. (after not talking often for a long time)
It really jump started my social life.
I used voice chat online without any issues, I talked to people in real life without the immediate nervousness I'd have before.
That's one thing I learned, it's all about exposure.
I was gonna schedule weekly VR chat sessions, and consider adding challenges to improve even more such as public speaking and such.
But that was all halted by my Rift S getting USB issues. Surprise...
Gonna get that shit replaced and get a HP Reverb G2
Bruh your voice is amazing
About 4 or 5 years ago I started playing VRChat and it was the best thing to happen to me. I was painfully shy and very much a push over. When I first joined my heart would pound and I remember my voice being shaky as I tried to talk to people. It was terrifying but without those experiences and for the mostly kind community treating me so nicely when I started out I wouldn't be where I am now. I started out hiding behind at the time a really bad loli voice but over the years I've become confident enough to not only drop the voice as a protection but also to stand up for myself and be confident in who I am. I've also made life long friends and have a wonderful group of people I call my friends that I'd never have met if it wasn't for VRChat.
New to this channel. This is the first video of yours that I've watched. I subbed. Your voice is calming and welcoming, it makes me feel comfortable but eager to learn more, especially about a topic as interesting and relatable as this. Your anecdotes about how you experienced social anxiety IRL really made me feel included, in a strange way, because it's the same for me. Excellent video, overall.
I really liked this video.
I have been deling with social anxiety for almost 14 years now since I got ptsd, my heart start to race and I get very bad panic attacks. For the last few months I have tried to force my selv into vr chat to battle this, but I still get sick to my stomac everytime I hear someone talk, plus with this corona having to stay 3meter away from people at all time in real life, kinda makes it harder to aproch someone in the chat. I just want someone to talk to, been stuck inside for 9months now, with no one to talk with
Dude I can relate to you so much, I’m still a minor, And I haven’t ever been public schooled, which really makes it difficult to talk to people, when I was 11 or so, I’d get made fun of for my voice and age, which gave me extreme social anxiety, and I’ve been looking for so many ways to cope, and I’ve been avoiding making progress on it and just being a mute, I’ll try my best to socialize more.
Actually, I think it's more difficult to socialize on VrChat for me than irl. Because in real life I at least have an ulterior reason for it, whether I'm socializing because I'm working, or at some group thing. I have a reason I'm there for, socializing comes second.
Meanwhile on VrChat it's not that. Your intention is to socialize. That is primary.
Not to mention, I feel like I have to be cool or interesting or neat to talk to people on VrChat. In real life I can acknowledge I'm boring and very uninteresting, but people might expect that because I'm just a guy. But in VrChat my avatar looks cool or whatever, so people see me and think, "Hmm, his avatar looks cool. I bet he's a cool dude" And they approach me.
Of course my natural response is to get the heck out of there, but I want to socialize in this game. But it seems to be so difficult for me.
I just love how chill and interesting these videos discussing various topics are ^^
This was a pretty high quality video. Very professional.
You started your yt channel this year and your already so good at making vids im mind blown keep it up 😀👍
I've tried to play vrchat but as soon as I decide to join a world and I hear other people's voices I just freeze up and just shut down and its weird in the real world I don't struggle that bad with my anxiety like its there but since its in a real environment I just sorta just ignore how I feel and keep moving but virtual interactions seems and feels completely different like it almost feels like my fears have been doubled for no apparent reason at all like I know there's nothing to fear and its hard to describe what makes me scared to be social but idk its just feels like the most difficult thing in the world when you finally try and make yourself do it.
I love it when someone tells me how irrational my fear is, like yeah I know it's extremely irrational, still not going to make it go away! You can be scared that someone will break into your house, you know it's pretty unlikely (most of the time) but it still doesn't make the fear go away.
I believe in this so much I decided to make a world to help people get over their fears. It's getting popular on both headsets and desktop.
What a deep and educational video. This will help a lot of people! Great job Phia
The contrast between character and background is so strong that I now have one of those flash floaties that is shaped like a tall goomba.
you remind me of Vsauce :D on a side note, you're super cute!
I try to utilize my inner "Michael from Vsauce" energy when making videos hehe
Some people in this game show their true colors by acting how they would IRL if they had no physical or long-standing consequences. So it's a good judge of character if you see someone who's nice in game because they really don't have much incentive to be
ive had social anxiety for a while and its only when im in vrchat, when im casually talking to someone irl like in a store for example im completely calm and relaxed as im able to identify someone's personality and mood, therefore i know what to say (im autistic and a bit slow to process stuff so i have to think a bit harder about what to say sometimes) while in vrchat since people can change avitars quite often and moods are harder to identify from lack of natural facial expressions it screws up my thought process and im not able to identify what to say and what not to say which causes anxiety spikes when im hanging out with someone i dont know or with more than a small group of people. however i think this video alone has helped as it made me realize that i can still study speech patterns which i think i forgot about. its a struggle but im trying atleast.
The VRS is such a fucking treasure, keep up the good work Phia!
Social engagement irl is so much easier for me because, to me, looks don't matter and they can't respond extremely negatively, they can disagree irl but they can't say anything crazy in response. Online is like the wild west and vrchat not only gives you this unfiltered version of conversations but now you can see how they respond physically, it feels more real, I can take shit talk from team mates in valorant or csgo but I feel so much more insecure in vr because it feels like I'm really talking to a person, not some random voice that I don't really care about.
Tl:dr
I'm more insecure in vr then i am irl or in other games
(Sorry for late comment lol)
Same here, feeling so weird in vrchat every time I try to speak I get a very weird feeling that impossible to overcome but irl I am confident
I'm self confident about not having VR gear while talking to people in VRchat as if people are judging me for that. Very odd and irrational but it makes me really uncomfortable. Thanks for the show, I subscribed!
Because of this Video I now want to try and hopefully remove my fear of the stage or when ever I am in a crowd. Thank you so much. I kinda undrstand the CBT concept because of this video.
I have a very hard time socializing with people IRL, and I was also thinking about trying out VRC for the first time once I receive my VR headset this week.
I also want to practice my English, I kinda understand it very well but when it comes to talking I struggle very very much especially with the stupid anxiety.
It will be killing two birds with one stone for me: Getting a little bit over my social anxiety & speaking to people in English.
I almost never cry but this video made me almost sob
❤️
@@TheVirtualRealityShow thanks Phia
This is such a cool video! Thank you so much for making this!
To be honest, vrchat is worst for my anxiety, I mean sure it’s a place where I found my closest friends and lover and I’m forever grateful for that, trying to make friends nowadays however is stressful as hell. For one it’s impossible to be yourself truly on that game without having to deal with indifference every moment you spend there, and nowadays people will either bully you cause it’s funny or call you a terrible person for making human mistakes. It’s very easy for people to judge you so quickly in that place and normally it wouldn’t be a problem if you simply didn’t care what they think, but it’s not about you caring, it’s about them caring. Them caring enough to threaten you and your friends for existing and having information dox in a blink of an eye, caring enough to spread information about you until your reputation is ruined forever. And the worst part about it is that you might not even deserve the treatment, sometimes you can just get bullied out of community’s for just having your own opinions. So whenever I get on that game I have to remind myself that I’m there for me and no one else, cause In the end there’s no point in letting the bully’s win because they can’t control your happiness. To whoever reads this and however you take this, just know that I’m incredibly sorry if you had been through this as well, and so long as you go there for your sake, just be safe and I hope you have a great day every day.
I saw CBT and my brain immediately went somewhere else.
I have social anxiety but also It's just that I know no one wants me to be around and if I'm not around they will still have fun and not care if I'm gone. I just feel very replaceable online like if I meet someone and I think we get along I'll hop off and when I get back on, they have already found someone new. I feel like every time I do meet some nice people I mess it up and currently I've got no friends irl or online and I feel lonely a lot of the time. I wish people understood this feeling of being replaceable like if I just disappeared no one would really care and lives would not be impacted.
Not going to drop any names, due to him being a pretty big name in VRC and has a large following and lots of subs and followers, but one of my friends used VRC as therapy for his Social Anxiety. I haven't known him as long as some of our shared friends, but he was apparently very quiet when he started playing. He then started coming out more and more, his twin brother being with him most of the time helped a bit. Then they started a discord server and that combo'd with VRC really helped him open up. Now, you almost can't get him to shut up and he knows so many other big VRC names and even crashes their streams, while he's streaming, sometimes too! He's apparently still pretty quiet in real life, though. I have a few other friends in VRC who have bad social anxiety who are using it as a form of therapy, too.
It's been very slow for one of them, though. He often gets overloaded and wanders off or hides. We usually leave him alone, but I sometimes just go over to him and sit near him. No talking, to to let him know he's still accepted. But since he's started streaming, he's opened up a bit more recently, still has periods where he's overloaded, though. You can always tell when he's in a good mood and open to social things when he dances, though.
A lot of people don't understand how things that aren't labeled as 'Therapy' can actually be therapy. Like when youtubers get comment or emails from fans about how they helped that fan get through some hard things. Or like the rapper NF, who uses his music as therapy. I used music and video games as therapy to get through the majority of the damage caused by my last breakup, including social anxiety in real life and online. I didn't socialize much outside of the circle of friends I'd had since high school. I then started playing VRC a little, very quiet at the start. Didn't really make friends. Then I started watching Naggz21, joined the VRC Community Discord, found a friend, followed her to Ryan1993UK's Discord, then her Discord. I started talking more and more in various discord servers, not just her's. Made more friends, too. Became active in a handful of them.
Met the man who would become my boyfriend in her server. At the time, we were friends. I knew he was bi, but I hadn't accepted my bi-side, yet. Then I slowly accepted my bi-side, things happened, had a few short-lived boyfriends that didn't go much of anywhere. Then bonded with my bf, one thing led to another, and here we are about to celebrate 1.5 years! My most loving, most natural feeling, and easiest relationship I've ever had! We still have a couple 'walls' left from damage caused by my ex and the break-up, but we're working on it and he's very patient and understanding. He's become a form of therapy for me, too.
All this to say, anything can be therapy and can help to varying degrees. Therapy is anything that helps you forget your pain or mental issues for a bit, but at the same time, reconcile with them and slowly change that aspect. There were a lot of therapies, that weren't labeled therapy, that went into me overcoming the darkest parts of my depression. No medication or doctor involved. They all involved escaping real life and spending time with friends who cared for me. VRC is a great place to do that, even if it's desktop mode(like me) and an hour a day.
Hey Phia! The art in the thumbnail looks familiar and was wondering what the source is?
Looks like Sailor Moon to me.
It's from a retro anime artist who redraws stuff in retro 90's anime style. It's a mean girls redraw
As someone who is afraid of going into a public lobby because of social anxiety. I watched this to see how it SHOULD help me 😭
I've tried over and over again but I can't do it. Every time someone starts speaking to me, I can't bring myself to speak and I end up getting off feel worse than when I got on.
then someone just yelling at me "Oh my god, will you ever shut up?!"
whenever I try to engage in a social thing, even attempting to join social vrchat worlds, i get so stressed and i end up only in private worlds alone. Im really trying to get through it and find the courage to join a public world and talk
I passed the "hell I'm gonna die" stages thanks to my university lecturer forcing me to do presentations. My main problem now is that I have no idea how to continue a convo and added language barrier if I'm talking to a foreigner. I have been playing VRChat since I got myself a Quest. I'm not going to lie, it helped me with my general shyness around ppl and talking in a foreign language. I used to be that "mute" fella hanging out in the background, but these days I get to spend time with ppl every now and then. But, the problem with sustaining a convo still persists and destroys the aforementioned moments, which is smth I always had and hated. It's like my ability to talk dwindles down to a toddlers, my brain becomes an empty clearing, and i have no idea what to say next.
Vrchat help me so much in just a month, when I first started, I was faking afk when someone say hi to me because I was so scared, I don't do much now, I just say hi too, but well, it's a bit more enjoyable now, I was scared of people, and sometime i'm still am, but i'm already happy that now I have the strenght to say hi when someone come talk to me, and I even have 2 small conversations ! I'm not very talkative, but I and my friends see improvement with me, it's very hard, sometime I'm just not in the mood but I wanna see people talking, i'm still stress and anxious when people talk with me but they are often kind and patient so it's always good in the end ! I really want to buy a vr set now, because I enjoy my time in vrchat, and beeing in a long distance relationship, I feel a bit closer to my boyfriend, because I can see a part of him? I don't really know but VRchat is such a good thing for me at the moment, I wish I was less shy to connect a bit more, but when I go on there, it's always good ♥
I've also been struggling a lot with social anxiety and lacking self-esteem, so I looked for an opportunity to overcome my fear and start living normally. But my parents don't quite understand my anxiety, they think i'm exaggerating and don't want to get me a therapist. Soon after that I found out about VRChat and I knew, that this was my chance to start over and learn to socialize. Unfortunately I can't afford a VR-Headset.
I have a case of social anxiety... but... hmm... how do I explain this..... it's not the fact that there will be eyes on me occasionally that tips my anxiety off... more so what they think of me.
now you can say it's not me, it's them, and you can say that I could just leave and not deal with them... but that is just running away from your problems. running from fear is not recommended, it only makes the fear stronger. on top of that, I don't want some random person to harbor bad emotions like anger, or depression after talking with me. I want to get along with people, i really do... it's just... the weight of a bad memory is about as crippling as a broken leg... maybe worse...
The jacket and background gives me Virtual Self vibes