Im always seeing sad stories on this subreddit - admittly sometimes myself included - so i thought id write a more positive one.

i was so incredibly shy growing up. in my first year of school we were assigned a buddy in an older year who would basically be our friend for the year. i didnt speak to her once. like, thats not an exaggeration, she thought i was mute because the entire year i did not say one word to her. one of my sisters moved out when i was pretty young (like 3-4) and i would only see her every so often so anytime i would hang out with her id get super shy and quiet even until i was about 14. ive always struggled making friends. going into highschool i was the same, never spoke to anyone unless spoken to first. i feel like i got super lucky in highschool. i met someone who through them i managed to meet and become friends with quite a few people. though, because of my social anxiety i never managed to become anybodys "best friend". everybody already had their bestfriend. i would barely hang out with people outside of school and once high school ended i pretty much lost everyone i was friends with because we fell out of contact- besides one of my friends from primary school (elementary?). i was doing drugs in high school but only really weed and sometimes mdma and at that point i hadnt utilised drugs to my advantage.

it took me so many lsd trips to realise that i shouldnt just be doing it for "fun". it taught me i dont need other peoples approval. all my life ive been taught i need to always look perfect and do everything right, but i learned that thats just not how life works. im okay just letting myself be happy. weed has always allowed me to become more comfortable and at lower doses i can get conversation flowing so easily. drugs (and self-reflection) helped my social anxiety so incredibly much. now i can call people up when i need something like an appointment, i can speak to customers at work without ever worrying they might be judging me. i think today was the day i finally realised how much better i was doing. i take classes in carpentry, so some things/tools need to be shared. i think for the first ever time, i had zero anxiety approaching somebody in class. yes i had realised i was less anxious talking to people, but i would still never really approach somebody unless they spoke to me first. but today, i realised i needed something, i walked over to somebody that had it and i started talking to them. they were only using it for ~2 minutes so we had a chat. i realised later that before, during and after, i had zero anxiety about the entire interaction.

this is something that has affected my life so much up until this point. i was so proud of myself for getting over this hurdle and if anything i hope it can help anyone else in the same position. thanks for anyone who took the time to read, i appreciate all of you and wish everyone the best of luck in the future. :)

(obviously drugs werent the SOLE reason for fixing it, please dont try and only use drugs as a cure if you have the same problem)