Social Anxiety is such a debilitating illness. No one realises what it's like to constantly feel anxious or to fear the simplest of tasks such as walking to the shop. It may seem completely irrational to anyone that doesn't have social anxiety or doesn't have an understanding of it. It is so difficult to explain how it feels to have panic attacks or to feel and get physically sick every time you leave the house.

The constant thoughts running through your head that you can't stop and most of the time you don't even realise what the thoughts are because they come & go so fast.

It's a constant struggle to do anything. It stops me from going to events that I really want to go to. It prevents me from enjoying myself when I do go to these events & it just feels horrible that a mental illness can have that effect on someone. People always say I understand or I'm here for you, but, you cannot understand it unless you have been through it yourself & to the people who say they are there. Prove it! Text me every now and again to see how I am doing, don't just say you will be there for me & then I don't hear from you unless you want something because if you aren't going to be there for me when I need you don't bother texting me at all. I can't deal with your drama and my own if your not willing to do the same for me! Most days I can't even leave the house because of my social anxiety so please if your going to be my friend then make the effort with me and if not just leave because it's too hard to have so called "friends" that only text you when they need you. I wish that all mental illnesses didn't exist and that I could do all the things I would love to do but, they do exist and I can't do something's. It's not because I don't want to, it's because my social anxiety won't let me.

I genuinely would not wish having mental health problems on my worst enemy because no one should have to suffer like this, it's just not right.

I am so greatful to the friends and family that have been there to support me, I wouldn't be the person I am today without them.

I am also greatful to all the mental health professionals that have helped and encouraged me to get better over the years. They really are amazing people who just need the funding to back their line of work so that they can help more people, but, our government would prefer to use the money assigned to the mental health facilities to pay the politician's that genuinely do not care about mental health as they or anyone they know has obviously never suffered like a lot of young people in Ireland do. It's not right that we can't get the support we need when we need it because our government has its priorities all wrong.