iHatePaws94 wrote:Hi everyone. I find the most difficult part of PAWs is my struggle to connect to other people. I am essentially a social outcast now. I sense that I make others very uncomfortable when trying to converse with them. This was never an issue for me in the past. I was always confident and popular before my addiction. Now I have very few friends and even simple tasks such as going to the grocery store are difficult for me. I feel so alienated from others. I can't shake the feeling that this will be permanent. I was hoping to hear some words of encouragement from others who experienced this as well. I've also noticed that my looks have suffered. I used to be fairly good looking but now I look sickly and deranged. My eyes look crazy kind of similar to Gary Buseys where one looks normal and the other looks cracked out. It's very stressful to see myself like this. I'm also really pale and puffy. Is this something that any of you have experienced and has it gotten any better. I'm at 9 months and on my good days I feel a little better but I still look bad and struggle socially.
I feel like I've been able to just be open about almost anything about my life with people, I ask questions that are unusual, and I answer questions in a way nobody expects. In real life I'd think people would push me away or just think I'm weird, but they don't, they still treat me as a human, a quirky one, but a human.
Be honest, be sincerely interested in other people for the sake of them being people, and you'll get acquaintances and friends flying at you left and right. I would avoid putting up too many or too high of walls, they keep people out, you don't have to tell them your deepest darkest secrets, but let them see your weak side so they know who you are, I'm the king of showing people my weak side, and it shows, just don't push it as far as I do.