Hello, this is my first time posting on this forum so please bear with me!
I am 17 and since the start of this year, I feel irrationally anxious going out on casual walks in my neighbour hood. It's ridiculous because I grew up there and I take the same route every time, but lately stepping outside and having cars drive by me, I get so scared I'll suddenly get yanked inside or they'll stop next to me and shove me in their boot. Dramatic I know, but whenever I feel or see a car driving up behind me, I freeze and wait for it to pass before I can continue walking. Every person I pass, I double check and mentally categorise as a potential suspect for kidnapping. Except I feel like I'm being a crazy person, because sometimes when I enter smaller streets and I see a car turn into the same road or direction I am walking on. I stop and immediately just walk back home. Normally a walk would take me half an hour, but now its been cut down to only fifteen or twenty minutes. I don't even walk around at night, its literally the middle of the day. The sun is out, everybody is out, but I just can't. I flinch at birds flying over me, or cars backing out of driveways. The thing is that my school bus stop is fifteen minutes away from my house, I have been taking the same path for two years at this point. But sometimes if I see a car or somebody my brain screams dangerous, I freeze and genuinely wonder if I should just go home. I have to literally gaslight myself by telling myself I'm a fake friend if I don't go, just so I can hop on public transport. I swear this never happened at all two years ago and it frustrates me because I can't even walk the full path I usually take, yet I want to walk further for exercise. Any advice on how to overcome this?
