Hey hey! Well, that's really sweet of you to write everything that you did :3 Thank you for all your kind words. It means a lot that you decided to say something despite your shyness!
Shyness is a bit like having a curse >.< It's such a hard thing to live with cos it's a bit like always being on the outside of things looking in. In a biography I read recently about someone who used to be extremely shy, he said that the kindest thing anyone can do for a shy person is to approach them and make them feel included :3
I know what he means because that's exactly what my best friend did for me. I got a seasonal job years ago, and I loved the job, but not all the socialising before the work began because I didn't know anyone there, and everyone else seemed to already know people >.< I was too shy and anxious to even try and start a conversation, and I felt so lonely. One day, she noticed that, and though we were complete strangers, she was so kind to me, treating me like an old friend or sister :3 She made a pretty big effort to make me feel more included in the group, and helped me have a lot more fun there than I would have had without her. No one had ever done that for me before, and it made a world of difference! I considered her to be my best friend ever since :3 Without someone like that to reach out though, breaking through shyness is almost impossible >.<
I'm really glad you've enjoyed my games anyhow :3 Sometimes I feel a bit like an impostor dev cos I don't really know wtf I'm doing and just try my best to get the ideas out of my head and into something playable x3 Normally, working on all that stuff helps heaps with my mental health. That's kinda how I know things are starting to go downhill when I instead find it difficult to work on it all instead of it being fun like it usually is >.< But going for walks and stuff helps when nothing else does (at least most of the time anyways!) I think because it sort of forces me to escape my own head for a bit if I'm outside and distracted by nature, haha.
Even when I'm in a bad place with my depression and stuff, I still feel like I'm extremely lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life that I can talk to and be open with about it all. Whether they be folks in person like my dad, or people I speak to online :3 It helps so much to be able to be open, honest, and talk about it all. I have no idea how people survive if they don't have anyone they can open up to >.< It must be so much harder if you're alone. I'm so grateful that I'm not alone at least :3
Nothing you said comes across as off at all :3 Everything just sounds really sweet and encouraging to me! So don't worry about that :3 And honestly, just reading everything you wrote helps a little bit. Any time someone speaks to me about stuff like this it always helps in some way. Because it helps to drill things into my head that I find difficult to allow to sink in if it's just myself saying it. Like for example I know I should try to take better care of my mental health by having breaks and things instead of pushing myself so much. I know that, but despite knowing it, I struggle to actually accept it and act on it. Whereas when other people say it to me, it's like I can accept it more. I guess maybe I'm not very good at giving myself permission to stop, haha. There's always a little voice telling me to do more, work harder, do better, even when I'm exhausted x3 Having other people tell me it's okay to rest and giving me permission to just take a break helps heaps in giving me the strength to tell that little voice to shush and let me relax ^-^
Thank you for the luck as well :3 I'm gonna try my best to do at least one little thing for the challenge each day, haha. Hopefully I will see some little baby animals to make me smile! Well, I already did today cos there were little baby birds in the garden. If I can manage to raise any money for the charity at the same time, that's a bonus!
You don't need to apologise anyhow :3 Nothing sounded presumptuous at all to me. It was just really lovely and heartwarming to read through everything you wrote ^-^ So thank you again for taking the time to say all that you did. I hope you get to have a happy June yourself! And that 2022 is a brilliant year for you overall :3
PS. If you ever just want to chat or vent or anything, you're welcome to drop me an email anytime! :3