Diagonally Parked in Parallel Universe

When our social fears are intense and persistent, we have social anxiety disorder/social phobia (SA/SP – “sasp” for short). This means every day we’re forced to confront the pain of being in the spotlight, evaluated, or being embarrassed by the very social situations we long to embrace. Socially we find ourselves on the periphery of life’s dance, trying to follow the choreographed patterns and rhythm, but usually seeming to be one beat out of synch, zigging when we should zag. Often feeling like the butt of a cosmic joke, we see ourselves as the ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from bumper to bumper, missing targets, and always on the verge of “tilt.” This is being diagonally-parked in a parallel universe.