I've lurked these forums for quite a while now. I guess it's time to get in here! My name is Jazzmyn (and yes it's spelt that way) and I'm from Australia. I'm 17 years old. Only a few people know about my 'secret', and those only people are my best friend and my two previous girlfriends of course. I think I'd like to come out for quite a few reasons. It's hard having to lie to my parents about a lot of things, or come up with stupid excuses when my male friends try to hook me p with someone. I suffer from Selective Mutism, which is an anxiety disorder of sorts. It came about when I was around 6 years old, along with signs of severe social anxiety. In short, I can't talk to many people. I'm okay with my parents but can never construct proper full sentences, everyone else, my body won't let me make a sound. Though the general social anxiety has been treated successfully through therapy, the selective mutism hasn't I've been going through some good shaping exercises to help out. The reason I bring this up is that I worry about things a lot more. For example, I tend to be extremely talkative on the net, so people get a different opinion of me. Or people see photos of me but when they meet me, they can't handle the constant silence. I can, and I have, live with it, but I wish I didn't have to. I can't wait to get to know all of the wonderful people here, and I'm excited about using the chat room. If anybody would like to know anything else about me, don't hesitate to ask. I'm a rather open book, or so I'd like to think. Peace and love! xo
Thank you for the warm welcome! I'm sure I'll enjoy these forums even more now that I can participate.