I kind of attribute my anxiety of being around people, or calling people, or visiting people, or meeting people, or really anything to do with people as at least partially caused by how much “stranger danger” and “never answer the door by yourself” was instilled into me as a young kid. They definitely are logical things to teach kids, but my mum kind of took it to the next level

There’s more to it, of course. The constant internal and external threats to safety and property over the last 6 years have not helped, but even before that I was terrified of people