Aside from trying to figure out my sexual orientation and gender identity, I also feel like I could benefit from seeking help with what I believe to be mild depression and/or social anxiety. I feel like I do a pretty good job managing these things, but I work in a pretty stressful job and work around 60 hrs a week, not counting travel time and hours that I'm at work, but not doing billable work or in transition before my second job starts. I have one person I'd consider a friend that lives in the area, but even she and I don't talk all that often and when we do I still feel like there are things I'm not totally comfortable talking about. I would love to have more friends, but this is where the social anxiety part comes into play and can never figure out if people actually like me or if they just tolerate me. I tend to be very closed off and therefore have a hard time making friends. I work with children with autism and have even questioned at times if I fall somewhere on that spectrum as well. I know it would be best for me to see some kind of counselor, but needing to work as much as I do makes it hard to feel like I could commit to going and getting the help I could use and also makes me panicky about spending the money to do so. When I think about this, I think that really I could probably just benefit from talking in person to anyone about this and it doesn't necessarily need to be a counselor, but then it goes back to not having friends either nearby or even far away that I could talk to online or over the phone. I feel so stuck and think it's starting to affect me more than will be manageable shortly. Does anyone have any advice on where to go to get cheap/free help or tips on talking to friends about all of this? Thanks in advance.
