Hey I'm a 24-year-old gay guy from the UK. I'm feeling a bit lost lately. I'm comfortable in my sexuality and have been for a long time, but I've also struggled with issues around anxiety and depression a lot in my lifetime and they've had a big impact on me. I really want to meet new people and make new friends, but I'm too shy to use photos of myself on dating and friendship apps at the moment. I feel silly being like this for my age, but I thought maybe this forum would be a good place to come and maybe look around while I'm struggling and feeling alone. Low self-esteem is a bit of an issue too. I feel kind of held back in lots of ways by all the stuff I'm thinking about and dealing with. Hopefully being somewhere like this will help me build my confidence a bit so I can start to build a better life for myself.
Thank you To be honest I don't have a lot of people to talk to about this stuff. It's so easy to work myself up all the time, thinking I'm not good enough and asking myself why I can't do things it looks like everyone else is doing. It helps a lot to know other people feel the same.
Cinnamoon (I like your screen name), You are most definitely not alone. Your story could have been mine. Reaching out here is a good step. You have some great goals: 1. Meeting and making friends. (I've never used an app, so perhaps someone else can talk about posting photos.) 2. Building your confidence. 3. Build a better life for yourself. Now, you can start figuring out the steps to achieve them. For me, depression, unfortunately, would overpowered me and sucked my positive energy and my goals away. Are you getting treatment for your depression? Finally, I found that an online depression forum (which has a LGBTQI+ section) was very helpful, especially for support and discussion of treatment options. (If you want the link, PM me.) Also, check out EC's links. https://emptyclosets.com/home/pages/resources.php. It has some handy links. And remember you are worth it and you definitely are good enough. Keep us posted.
Thank you! I'm so sorry you've gone through something similar. I definitely try to have goals to keep me going when I'm feeling like this. To be honest my depression has done the same to me for most of my life and still does this a lot to me now. I'm still trying but things aren't easy. I am getting treatment. I haven't started taking them yet but I was prescribed antidepressants and a sleeping aid recently by my GP. This will be the third time on antidepressants for me, I'm nervous but hoping it will go okay. I'd love the link! I'm not sure if I'm established enough to send pms yet though? Either that or I just can't figure it out! Either way at some point I'd love to find out about the other forum. And thank you for the link too I'll definitely take a look. Aw thank you, I don't often feel good enough but I try. It helps having encouragement in places like this. Going through this alone is so hard. Yay! Thank you, seems like a friendly place so far. Thank you for the welcom
Welcome @Cinnamoon you’ve joined a friendly and supportive community. Hope you find what you are looking for here
I've barely been posting a day and I'm already making typos =P Thank you! ^^ Aw thank you that's so nice of you to offer. I'll definitely keep that in mind, hope you're doing okay yourself Yeah it seems really friendly so far! Thank you for the welcome ^^ Yay, thank you I think just having somewhere to browse and post will help me a lot. It's amazing what a good forum can do when I'm sat at home alone, feeling pretty miserable and down. Any way to just connect and talk a bit sometimes can make a huge difference
That’s exactly what happens with me. I type on my phone or iPad and between my clumsy thumbs and autocorrect, it’s a recipe for disaster
Can definitely relate, too much Although most things I do tend to end in disaster these days anyway =P
Cinnamon…..Hello and a great big LGBTQIA+ welcome to Empty Closets! I can remember the first post that I made on EC. I was desperate for help and I got the help that I so needed. I hope that we can help you in the same way that I received help. The most important thing to remember about Empty Closets is that we do care about you! We're very glad that you found us here on EC and hope that we can answer questions, give support if you need it and provide a place to vent (as long as it's not violent!) when that becomes necessary! I decided not to tell you to see a therapist! You probably have already been told that...so I'll skip it. You do sound pretty frustrated and I hope we can help you with that at least a little because we will always be here for you to vent or just share how you feel. Anyway...we really are glad you found us! The rest of this post is info about how to navigate around EC a bit...I hope it helps! There are 18 different sub-forums here that you can check out and join in the conversations or start your own thread/conversation. *****When you have made at least 10 posts on various threads you will be able to post messages on a member's Profile Page. Just click on a member's Avatar Picture and then click on "Profile Page" in the dialogue box that pops up. You'll then be on their Profile Page and there will be a box that says: "Write Something" When you have been on EC for a few weeks and have made at least 50 posts on various forums, you can apply for Full Membership. A Full Member can send Private Messages (PM) to other Full Members and share personal contact info. Right now you can only send a PM to a Staff Member as that is always possible. Here is a quote from the Full Membership information forum: *****To be eligible you must be a member of Empty Closets for a minimum of two weeks, and have a minimum of 50 posts. These posts must be across numerous forums (Fun & Games does not contribute to post count), and consistently posted across a minimum of two weeks. You wouldn't be eligible, for example, if you registered, had no activity for two weeks, and then returned to post 50 times on your 14th day of membership. *****Well, as I said, we're very glad you found us! If you have any questions at all, you can post a question on my Profile Page or send me a Private Message. .....David