Greetings from Down Under

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce myself =). I’m 21, male, and from Sydney, Australia. I’ve always been labelled as ‘quiet’, even from a young age but I’m not a hundred per cent sure as to whether it’s SAD. In recent years, I’ve become even more so a recluse than my younger years. I find myself deliberately avoiding having to talk to people and just trying to avoid social situations altogether, in part because of some negative experiences I've had. Even though I’m able to string together a sentence or two in writing, I often find it difficult to find things to say in person and people quickly bore of me. I won’t go into it now, but my parents probably have much to do with the way I am now.

While I may be quiet, I think that I’m generally a nice person and try to help people out where I can. Others haven’t been so kind back, however. Because of my quietness (amongst other things), I’ve been “used” and have been on the receiving end of jokes/pranks a fair few times—even from those that I’ve helped out. Over the years, I’ve been losing my once close friends that I’ve been able to depend on and now, I don’t even have anyone to go out to places or travelling with anymore and it's eating into other aspects of my life—I can't go overseas and I feel uncomfortable going to places like the movies alone.

In the past, I’ve tried to become more sociable, but I’ve since realised that it simply isn’t me. Things like clubs, drinking, promiscuity, drugs, having a large group of friends and whatnot isn’t what I’m after and I'm not interested in it. Ideally, I’d like a small group of friends and a like-minded partner that I could share my life with. Predictably however, given my extreme introversion, I’ve never so much as been on a date or even held hands in a romantic sense. It saddens me that many kids in primary/elementary school would have more experience with the opposite sex than I would. Love, romance and a meaningful relationship is the one thing in life I yearn for the most, but I’ve been coming to accept that given the way that I am, it’s unlikely I’ll ever find that special someone.

I know that things could be much worse so I’m not usually one to complain to those around me and I generally don’t show how I feel externally. Thanks for providing me with this forum as an outlet. =) It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who is like this.

SansSyd.