u/Desperate_Cap2438

I’m not 100% sure this is from zyn but I think it must be - does anyone else have more anxiety throughout the day and struggle to sleep when not using zyn?
For context, I’m coming up to a year of using, started at 6mg and went up to 11mg. I usually finish a can in about 2-3 days. I’ve recently noticed my heart rate and blood pressure has become elevated and obviously receding gums etc so I wanted to quit. The first day I tried and I woke up in the middle of the night and was unable to sleep the rest of the night. I feel so unable to quit because of this as I work night shifts and need to have enough sleep so I can function at work. This feels so undoable for me right now, every time I try and reduce or stop my usage my anxiety just goes through the roof. How do I get through this and has anyone else had this experience too?

For anyone who has the attention span to read my story, thank you.

My self-improvement journey is largely related to "fixing" my social anxiety (making it something I can still thrive and function with), although I find myself with other self-improvement battles. It may be related - I struggle to develop discipline, make a healthy routine (e.g. sleeping early, eating well, being active), and generally live outside of work. My life has always felt very small because I had no friends for years, and I would constantly hide my authentic self. I have made improvements though cos I started uni unable to leave my room unless I drank alcohol but as uni went on, I had therapy for the anxiety, and tried more and more to get out of my room. In doing so, I made my first proper best friend but they have severe depression and suicidal thoughts, and my life became revolved around this friendship as they were my only point of comfort and support. This friendship has been deteriorating over the years, mostly due to the severity of their mental health and the toll it takes on me during the depressive episodes.

After uni, I found a job as a support worker (relatively low pay, shit work-life balance), and now I find myself just working and then doing nothing at home. I've always been incredibly low energy, but I think the reason I can't find the strength or will to do things is at least somewhat because of my social anxiety and the horrors that come with it - very low self esteem, poor social skills. I really struggle to make friends, even with people I know would be "my people", because I don't feel like I can be myself around them, I don't know how to be comfortable with them.

So the glaring issue for me is, I have these issues making friends, but friends and loved ones = what life is worth living for to me. I still absolutely love time to myself as an introvert, but the lack of social network and support makes me struggle to find a reason to wake up in the morning. I don't feel excited for life, like my job prospects (even though I have a career plan I'm aiming towards), so I don't bother to do the important self-care parts of the day like cooking myself a healthy meal, or stretching, or reducing screen time. The obvious answer is to make friends, and I have made one at work, which is great. But I struggle to be myself around them a bit too, so I just feel empty.

Anyway, all this is to say, I would love some recommendations of books, articles, or any type of media or research really, which I could look at to change my perspective or give me some hope that I can have a life of excitement and friendships and look forward to things.

My best friend has just had a heart operation in Poland, I know I won’t hear from her directly for at least a couple of days whilst she rests but I want to make sure the operation went well and would like to ask her mum who does not speak any English. What’s the usual way to refer to her when texting her? I would like it to sound polite but also familiar as I’ve met her several times now. Based on a quick search, I’ve seen putting “Pani [first name]” works, but if any native Polish people could help me with this one just to make sure as for me I would not usually do first names in English when referring to friends’ mums directly. Thanks!

Firstly, bit of background: I’m (23, UK) currently a recovery support worker in a residential home for people with schizophrenia. It’s a comfortable job, pays £13.45/hour, and I’ve been there just over 6 months. I also recently started a second job as a casual learning support assistant at a SEN school, pays £15/hour but I don’t get shifts very often. I have a First class psychology and language sciences BSc and a merit in Clinical psychology with a clinical placement MSc. I’m building my experience and confidence a little in the workplace, but I still really struggle with social anxiety and low confidence and self esteem, as well as tiredness issues due to vitamin d deficiency (amongst other things, probably).

The thing is, I really want to develop myself career-wise into a high earning and high status position, ideally a clinical neuropsychologist. I know that the next logical step is to find roles that are more aligned with this goal, i.e an assistant psychologist position. The problem I’m having is I massively struggle with getting myself across well in interviews, I clearly lack confidence upon approach, very verbally inarticulate, and I’m worried I don’t have the personality and ability to reach the goals I want to reach despite my work experience and education. Plus, I struggle to have the energy to develop my skills when I’m not working (such as keeping up with statistical knowledge, reading science journals, etc) So I guess I’m wondering how can I develop in this area? It feels like I’ve reached the most amount of growth I can in my current job role and I don’t want to spend any more of my 20s in a job that doesn’t fit my qualifications. I’m scared about the competition, people with equal or even lesser experience getting the jobs I want because they come across much better and are faster learners, have more energy and social skills, etc. To be honest I also want to travel more, make more friends, and enjoy my life whilst growing my career. I’m worried this isn’t possible with my field though.

Any advice would be appreciated, even from those who don’t work in psychology related areas. I feel like im still learning to be an adult and it’s tough trying to get further into the “adult world” of jobs where people need to take you seriously and rely on you.

I literally got docs last week or so, and I checked yesterday to see it’s permanently shut? I guess it’s quite an expensive brand but the shut was unexpected to me, did anyone know about this before it happened? Guessing the revenue was bad?
Was gonna get some DM socks to go with the boots and loved the staff working there :/