This is just a rant post, so I’m not looking for any advice. My parents told me that they had met a new neighbor and one of them mentioned that they was looking forward to meeting me. As soon as I heard that I got really nervous and opened up to my parents about it. My dad said “Aww, there’s no reason to get nervous around him, he’s really nice.” 

This pissed me off because I have social anxiety and he should know by now that it makes me nervous around almost everyone, including some family members. It no longer matters if they are nice or not. So I told him this and he nodded as if he understood. Unfortunately this happens a lot with my dad. He’ll act like he understands in the moment, but will forget until I have to bring it up again.

Sometimes I feel as if my dad is still in denial about my social anxiety, because sometimes I can appear “sociable” or “fine” on my really good days, but he doesn’t realize that I am spending so much  energy trying to appear normal to people. It’s hard for me to “be myself” around others  unless I vibe with them right away. I just wish he’d stop forgetting how badly my anxiety affects me and be more supportive.