For 12 years, I haven't felt happy a single day of my life. Not once.

Even when I'm surrounded by people, even when my family and the few friends I have tell me they care about me, I can't stop feeling alone.

I came here to meet new people, hoping that feeling would go away if I made more friends, but I still feel invisible. Everyone seems to get along so well. I, on the other hand, don't know how to approach people. I just stay there, hoping someone will notice me.

I know it's not the right way to go about things, but what if people don't like me when I talk to them? I don't have anything interesting to say. I don't have anything to offer, or perhaps I'm just scared that the things I do have to offer are things nobody wants.

People often tell me that I shouldn't care about what others think, but when I feel this way, how can I not care? If people don't like me, I'll end up alone anyway.

I want people to notice me. I want someone to hold my hand and bring me along with them. I want people to be happy when I arrive. I want to matter without having to ask, without having to prove that I'm deserving of love.

I don't feel worthy of being loved. Not at all. Even when someone tells me I'm good-looking, I still can't bring myself to believe them.

There was a time when I created a persona so that rejection wouldn't hurt as much, because at least people wouldn't be rejecting me for who I really am.

Caring about people makes me happy. I like protecting people, being loving and affectionate toward them, and making them feel appreciated. But I'm afraid those traits, coming from someone like me, will be seen as unnatural or unsettling.

I'm unable to feel happy being the real me, but pretending to be someone else makes me miserable, too.

Why am I so scared to be myself? Why can't people treat me with the same tenderness I want to show them?

Every time I try to ask for help, I'm met with indifference. People tell us to reach out, to talk about what we're going through, but when the time comes, so few are genuinely willing to listen.

People have become so comfortable with emotional distance that showing genuine concern is treated as something unnecessary, embarrassing, or even a sign of weakness.

Reaching out is so difficult for people like us that we'd rather bottle everything up, sometimes until we feel like there's no way out.

Sometimes, a single word of kindness can make a difference in someone's life. If you have the means to help someone, if you can reach out, take their hand, and help them, please do it.

This is a serious cry for help. I don't even know if I'll be able to post this, if it'll get deleted, or if I'll end up getting banned.

But I feel like I have no one, and I don't know what else to do. I'm tired of pretending I'm okay when I'm not. I need someone to listen, someone who genuinely wants to understand.

I don't want to keep living with this loneliness. I want to feel that life can be different. I want to feel happy. I want to feel loved. And I want to believe that being myself will someday be enough.