Hi,

I thought I'd introduce myself here as I've had a weird few weeks and feel like I've completely dropped out of circulation as a human being!

I've been unemployed for the last couple of months (and prior to that only had temp work for a few months leading up to Christmas - really I've been out of work for about a year). I've been living off savings (rather than benefits) and watching them constantly diminish (and knowing that they'll take years to get back to where they where) has been pretty depressing (I know, I'm lucky to have had them to fall back on, but still...)

Anyway, I moved to a new city in mid-January to have a fresh start. Things started OK, couple of interviews, flatmates seemed pretty cool. I didn't get any of the jobs I applied for though, and in the last couple of weeks I've found myself feeling more and more isolated. My flatmates still seem like nice people but I've been going out of my way to avoid them - ensuite bathrooms and I've been using the kitchen during the day so I don't tend to have to see them too much. Anyway, it snowed a lot last week and I just didn't leave my room all day Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I've never done that before! At first it was quite interesting, fasting for a day, then two (I still had water). By Sunday I had to leave, but got out of the door as quickly as I could and got a takeaway rather than going into the kitchen to eat any of my food in the fridge or the cupboards (which, incidentally, is probably starting to go off)! I feel like I'm going mad!

I've always been quite a shy/reserved person, but never previously to this extent. I'm curious to see whether anyone else has been through anything similar. How did you overcome it and start facing the world 'normally' again? I feel as though I've dug myself into an insurmountable hole.