Idk why but I get extreme anxiety around replying to people. My friends, family members, etc. 

It’s gotten so bad that I sometimes go months! Right now most of the messages have been sitting unreplied to between 1-5 weeks, but I recently got the courage to reply to a message I’d left since February. 

I’m a very social and outgoing person when it comes to in-person meet ups, so it isn’t social anxiety. 

But I judge myself for being a bad friend and I make excuses constantly (eg. “I just saw your message”, “my notifications haven’t been working right”, “work has been super busy”) and it just feeds into a cycle of shame and judgment of myself. 

I don’t want to admit my anxiety to any of these people even though I’m close to them, so it’s a no go. Nobody has called me out on not responding but I feel terrible about it and it makes me even more anxious. 

Has anyone else experienced this?