When I was a teenager, I felt invisible. Each new group of people I joined would seem hostile and they would say they’d never met me before, even if I’d been hanging around with them daily for a few months in a row.

Later, joining any new group of people was a very much daunting experience. I couldn’t help but remember the times I was bullied. Other kids would make fun of me, give me offensive names and laugh into my face for no specific reason I could see. The fear of being ridiculed in front of other people haunted me, and made me shiver and panic whenever I was with more than two other people in the same space. I would freeze and not want to leave the comfort of my room. I found all sorts of excuses to stay there and not join the party or event.