Does anyone else worry all the time that other people don't like them?

[dinosaure]

I know this sounds a bit silly, but I've found myself increasingly paranoid recently that people just don't like me, laugh at me behind my back, find me thick and stupid etc etc etc. I do remember that I used to feel like this at school a lot, then I discovered smoking and drinking which were massive confidencen boosters.

Is it just me? Or does anyone else ever feel like this?

hijack!!!

ahem...exams done....block placement deferred untill sept (due to family crisis)

much prefer june off to sept anyway, so that is a weird blessing!

which area do you work in?...have we chatted before?...where did you train...actually i think i know taht

Have another MN persona for salt stuff as like to keep it all separate.
I think you know me..........

Are you finishing 3rd year?
Where will you be working when finished?

noooooooooooo!
??

sorry for hijack dinosaur xx

see me in chat ms moondog!

Well, it's good, in a bad sort of way, that so many others feel the same!

I think that perhaps my total and massive loss of self-confidence on returning to work after having DS3 has a lot to do with it. I am pretty well settled back at work now (just as well really, been back for over a year!) but I think it's taken its toll...

I hear what the Moondogs of this world say, and surprise surprise that's not exactly the first time I've heard this, but it's one thing knowing it and another really believing it, iykwim.

I feel like this at the moment. I've always felt like it to some degree but it varies in degree I find.

Yes, same here NotOK. I am very VERY good at putting on a confident front, but it kills me to have to do it all the time.

dino...my confidence is pretty inconsistent...sometimes its fragile...sometimes its oblivious to all those nigglyy dark thoughts.

exercise [yawn] and studying help alot....except for whne i worry that im the worst on my course....xx

I am indeed, anniemac, but I wouldn't say I had any real friends at work - although I get on perfectly well with most of my colleagues. I agree with you about the pressure.

Agree with what am says.

Oh, dino Nobody could EVER think of you as thick or stupid!!!
I do feel like this a lot myself though. I am ultra paranoid that people think of me in a negative way & always have been this way.

I like you, dino & I wish I was half as wise as you are!

Have yourself a drink tonight!

That is true anniemac - my one real friend, who is in the same position as me (3 kids, lawyer, SAHD) has handed in her notice, so that's not exactly made me feel any better!

Dino,this will make you laugh.
When I'm in Turkey with dh,can go for 6 weeks talking to noone but him,the children and shopkeepers in my very poor Turkish.
I once didn't even leave the flat for 21/2 days.
(Too much snow and feck all to do anyway)

My imaginary friends on MN keep me sane.

I feel the same, dino - but I know it's my pathetically low self-esteem that does it. I think that people think I'm thick ... partly because I know that people associate being fat with being thick, and partly because I have some hearing loss that makes it difficult for me to keep up with conversation and makes me seem slow and stupid.

I also felt that way at school - I was cripplingly shy - and a lot of the way I am now stems from that. Plus having any self-confidence knocked out of me by my mother didn't help! It's taken me years to get over that, and it still shapes who I am to a certain extent.

LW - . You've got lots of friends in RL and on mn and we all think you're great! Chin up.

nope. cos if they are i must be interesting enough to talk about - and am not up mi own arse to asume any one would ever talk about me
and finally - i don't give a fuck

For other people who have low self-esteem - how helpful or otherwise are your partners? (LW - I know about yours obviously!)

I think DH just thinks that I'm kind of putting it on and fishing for compliments and I just want someone to feed my monstrous ego. Maybe he's right...

Oh Dinosaure, I know exactly what you mean too. I must say you don't strike me like that at all the little I know of you!! I remember you from a while back and always look out for your posts.

I dont have a big box of friends or acquanitances - I think we always think we should be more popular than we are. Also when you have kids, wrongly or rightly, friends take a back seat and you do loose your confidence, which is bad if you never had a lot to start with....

I suffer from this a lot.More than anything I think pple find me boring (which I prob am) but am coming to realise there isn't too much I can do now - I'm not going to change into some mad crazzzzzzzzzzzy type at nearly 40. Slowly am becoming happy with who I am. Not bloody easy.