When someone tells me something they find interesting but I think it’s boring, I always say “that’s cool”. And it’s a lie. Every single time. I realized it because I started to automatically start to type “cool” to a friend who shared great news, rather than waffling over “amazing”, “fantastic”, or “congratulations”. With my social anxiety, this is the exact thing that I’m always afraid other people are doing to me. But I’m not going to stop, because I don’t know what I’d say when I want to say something positive to spare their feelings. This is just a thing I do now, apparently.

• Share on Facebook