"[Story]PoGo helped me cope with social anxiety"

#PokemonGO: Hello fellow travellers, today is a special day for me as a PoGO player, because I finally got the gold medal for walking 1.000 km. I never thought it would be possible to achieve this when I started playing, because I suffer from social anxiety.Before the release of PoGo I was a couch potato who didn´t spend much time out there, going to the city or having to deal with people was something I tried to avoid as best as I could. But PoGo changed this for me. I set myself the goal to be the very best, or at least to catch them all ^ So I spend much more time out of my apartment than I ever did. The time shortly after the launch was amazing but wired at the same time for me. It seemed like everyone was playing so when I was on the hunt other people visited the same spots as me. Since the mechanics and many other things were mostly unknown at the beginning strangers came to me when they were see me playing and asked if I already got this and that Pokémon, what level and team I was etc. This was new and awkward for me, since I tried my best to avoid talking to strangers or interact with them because it makes me highly uncomfortable and triggers my anxiety. But after a while it was all right for me. This was the first time I realised that playing PoGo had a positive effect on me.But at the end of last year my situation changed to the worse again. Influenced by other factors in my life my social anxiety got gradually worse until I was so scared that I could not leave my apartment anymore. I was just hiding in my man-cave unable to help myself. I barley managed to buy food without getting a panic attack, even though the nearest store is only 5 minutes away. Going to work was unthinkable like this so I was freed from work and didn´t know when or even if I could be working again.Even with my crippling anxiety and the depression, which came after a while of being at home and feeling useless and defeated, I still wanted to play PoGo. It was the only thing left which I was enthusiastic about. To do so I had to challenge my fears. At first it were really tiny steps, I just went out for a few minutes to catch a pidgey or to make some meters to hatch an egg. But from day to day I made some progress. I was longer outside and walked a longer distance. Every new Pokémon I got was an achievement and made me feel like there was a reason for me to leave my apartment and challenge myself. After two months since I had to stay at home I was able to go outside for three hours straight again! Without PoGo I didn´t have had something to motivate me to better myself. With this motivation, professional help and the support of family and friends I was able to overcome my severe depression and I began to seek help to cope with my anxiety as well.Today I feel a lot better. I still have times where I´m depressed or where my fears take over, but its not as frequent as it used to be, which gives me hope and courage when I think about my future. I´m working again too.The reason why I´m writing all this is because I was simply overwhelmed with joy when I achieved the trophy for walking 1.000 km today. It reminded me of the (literally) long way I had come from my first day as a traveller to today and all the good and bad things that happened in the meantime. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share my story with you how playing PoGo had a positive impact on my life.Stay save and enjoy your journey travellers. I hope you may find whatever you are looking for.PS: Sorry for grammatical errors and typos, English isn´t my native language. PPS: I deleted my first posting of this by mistake. Sorrry again... via /r/pokemongo http://ift.tt/2qDwcPG