Hello there, friends!
I don't know if this is relevant to any of you and i wasn't sure if i should even post anything about this at all... but here i go. For the last two years or so I have been trying to distance myself from other people. I know it souds kind of stupid, but I didn't want to get attached or give other people any power over me through forming a bond with them. That doesn't mean that I don't have friends, but I like to keep them alwyas an arms length away from me. But as of late I realized that this is turning from a cautious view of the people in my life to a fear of any sort of affection or closeness towards other people. I don't like hugs or kisses and the idea of entering a relationship makes me very uneasy. That doesn't mean that I don't care about anyone though. I actually give a lot of thought to my friends and family and try to help them out as much as possible, I just can't stand it when they are trying to get close to me, talk to me about my true feelings or help me. It just makes me feel very anxious. Another weird thing is, that people consier me fairly outgoing. For example, I don't have a problem talking about me with other people, as long as I am in charge of the conversation. So if I chat about past experiences or situations it's not a problem, but as soon as someone asks me 'How are you feeling about that?' or 'How are you?' I try to avoid answering the question or simply make something up. Again it probably stupid, but i honestly wish that I could just stop being so distant and be able to form real meaningful relationships. I've tried, but everytime I try to be more affectionate or try to open up, i always end up regretting it because I don't feel comfortable anymore. Any tips or advice? Thanks for reading btw :)

I have practically the exact same problem. I went four or five years without willingly hugging anyone, and am still kind of avoiding it. I am terrible at answering questions about my personal life and I usually answer with something like "Ducks". I have been trying to get over it, but it is always difficult to beat mental blocks. What I have been doing is one person at a time I start hugging them and sharing personal thoughts with them. It has been helping, but my problem hasnt ended

>>2 it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has issues with this sort of thing and I'll defenitly try to do it like that, but I don't how to start. Won't it come off weird when I suddenly act all different? How did you deal with that? Thanks for the advice though ^^

The last two years is when I went through this all the way up to when my family discovered some scars and I realized how much people really care. I am still erie about relationships and although I've been in some since then I don't want to do it anymore. A easy way to help overcome this is to do it slowly, very slowly and especially not all at once. It can be extremely difficult to open up to people (I'm still trying). The first step is to be honest about little feeling like if your having a bad day and feel sad don't feel afraid to admit it because people will care. It does not sound stupid to do this because A LOT of people go through this. The hardest part I think would be to trust yourself as yourself with other people. It's okay to tell people how you feel, you just need to tell yourself that it's okay to do this. Try going a little at a time out of your comfort zone instead of doing it all at once. Start with true feeling like how your day was and just build on top of that.

>>3 When I started this I did it casually as if nothing was wrong, if anyone thought I was different, I kind of ignored it and acted as though I wasnt doing anything. It worked for me, but it probably doesn't work for everyone. Hope this i what you were looking for!