My parents really messed me up.
"Never invite yourself or ask to join. If people want you there they'll invite you."
This has lead to a lifelong mental condition of "I am unwanted, unneeded" because I can't even bring myself to click the "request invite" button in VRC. Those words haunt me.
"If you're being bullied, don't fight back. They'll get bored and stop eventually."
They didn't. For the entire rest of elementary school, college, and everything that came after. No one ever got bored.
Parents have no idea in how many ways they can completely destabilize you for literal decades
Damn I defs feel the anxiety on vrc and requesting invites too, even when everyone says it's fine.
I'm glad I'm not the only one but it sucks ay >< same goes for popping in discord chats too tbh.
Knowing I'm not the only one motivates me to push thru it next time tho! Grateful you shared c:
I have a different flavor of this, where my brain keeps telling me no one cares to have me around, though most of it is depression and severe IRL struggling that cause this. Doesn’t help that meeting new people is a challenge for me. :-/
My entire life was spent thinking nobody wanted me around because I'd never get invites, and the entire time other people were sitting there waiting for me to join, but this stupid fucking mental roadblock has lead to a lifetime of feeling optional because asking to join people terrifies me.