Challenges with Relationships

I think I may have to work harder at relationships, definitely in disclosing about my illness but also in just wrapping my head around being in a relationship.

If I meet somebody new, schizophrenia will come up inevitably, when they ask about what I do for a living. I tell them I write about mental illness and mental health and they'll say, "How did you get into that?" and I'll have to explain that I either had a breakdown in college or something like that, and that can either make or break a friendship real quick. It can revolt people, so you have to be careful who you talk to.

I find dating challenging because I have a lot of anxiety to begin with and I have a lot of paranoia so I find it really hard to trust people, so getting past that point of trust is a pretty big thing for me and it doesn't happen a lot. And then of course there's disclosing your illness to a new person. You don't know how they'll react, so you don't know when to say that you have mental illness, on the first date or after a month. It's a book that hasn't been written yet.