life advice
 

Hi guys, I'm at the point in my life where I don't have anyone to talk to about my problems I usually just direct them to the back of my mind. So I've decided to seek advice on a forum like this.

I feel it's getting harder to meet people, I also feel like I'm loosing my mind lately and don't know what to do. I feel like my problems are stupid and if I tell them to people they will just laugh or not understand where I'm coming from. Sometimes I feel people will think I'm having a cry over nothing...

It hard for me to talk about this but here goes...
I have a few insecurities that have lately been bothering me more than normal things like my name, the way I look and the things I do. All my life I have been teased or made fun of. Sometimes by mates, colleges, teachers and even family, its all the same feeling, even if they are making fun of me as a joke or to insult me.

I'm so use to it that it's numbing, I live in Australia I was born here but I have European parents who came here to seek a better life. Unfortunately I have had to live in a country where I have been teased and made fun of because of my name. As a kid and a teenager I just lived throughout school constantly putting up with being teased about my name. Now as an adult in my 20's I'm still getting teased and people are still finding cruel nicknames to call me. I've thought about changing my name but my family wouldn't understand why as my name is normal to them. Also it's hard when you've grown up with a name for so long to just suddenly change it.

Because I've been teased all my life I just feel weak and demoralized. I just started a job a couple weeks before I start uni and have literally worked there for 4 days, come Monday I'm going to quit because of uni, and because I just don't feel confident around new people anymore. The job is in a call center where I have to deal with lots of people and It's made me very anxious and I feel much less confident. I cringed when I'm being introduced to some one new, as I can't help and think about all the **** they are making up about my name. I have simply lost all my confidence.

Is there anyone that's had a similar experience? Sorry for typing so much but I don't know any other way to describe my situation.

Thanks.

Does everyone actually tease you about your name, or are there cases where they don't, but you just worry that they are doing so behind your back because of experiences in the past? It's easy to sometimes assume everyone is being unkind, because that's what you've experienced, when actually you're potentially missing out on a really good friend because you make the mistake of assuming that they'll be just the same as everyone else.

Would your family not understand you changing your name, given the problems you've had with it? When I was 22 I started using a different name in professional situations and it was weird for a bit, but I got used to it quite quickly, and it's not as weird as I thought it might be! Though of course it's not fair that people are unkind and you are the one who feels you have to change!

Have you ever had any counselling? It might help to have someone to talk to about the hurt that you're experiencing.