what do you use virtual reality to escape from I was 15 years old this is
way before virtual reality was a thing I was dating this guy at the time who
ended up secondly assaulting me mostly my parents and my family it just helps
me with someone like my mental stuff I guess like because I really that social
anxiety I don't really play virtual reality for the same reason that most
people do I try to escape the normalicy if that's a word of life I escape from
social standards I have self-esteem issues with some of the things about me
that that I wish I could change those there when those families who are like
really religious and since I myself ain't no advice as a boy but I'm a girl
it's just hard goods and they said well if you do this I can you out the house
and you can't really escape that as a fifteen-year-old I know there's a lot of
stuff and stories like this but VR is cuz there's a lot of other people you
are going through the same stuff and it's just easier for me to talk at first
I was like I'm never gonna talk that oh they're gonna kick my butt if they find
out but so far they haven't I don't really use it to see from anything now
but previously I used to use it uh in my late teens the kind of early 20s because
I had to stay home for pretty much my schooling years and several more years
after that I was taking care of my mom since she was bed bound and my dad's
just he was he's elderly and then I couldn't really go anywhere hang out
with friends or do anything fun honestly fight I found that I can do that at home
VR Chad when I saw some videos and and I'm just hopping on and realized that I
was pretty I was a pretty shy person I didn't really get to know people well
I just stayed kind of quiet and don't really didn't really talk so I just
tried to change that by coming to people and doing this whole thing where I saw
them like I feel like hey accuse give me a head and I talk to them and just give
them a hug hmm it kind of got me out of that cello being shy and now more I'm
more open when I'm talking to people and more we're just accepting about these
and it sort of led me to just become a person that hopefully my friends feel
like they can rely on and I find that in virtual reality it gives you a lot of
opportunity to interact with more people in a shorter amount of time and in my
life I am very interested in psychology and charisma and here I feel like I have
a very big opportunity to develop those skills whether it be in counseling or
you know helping people out on their lives or even just like just through
your day to day interactions of people on VR chat I felt like I've been able to
grow as a person in my charismatic self and as in my helpful self and that's
basically the major reason that I use the are yet well that's a bit of a
complicated question because I feel everyone has their own thing that they
escape to virtual reality from but from me I would say I use it to escape from
my own reality that isn't quite as ideal everyone had as their ideal self that
they want to be is very hard to live up to that type of self in real life but in
virtual reality you can choose sort of path you want
and ever since him I've been really really frightened of men and just a lot
of people in general but mainly men so I really took to playing games online and
meeting all of these people who are extremely far away from me because it
helped me me feel safer and even to this a even now in virtual reality I'm still
afraid of men but it helps me actually I guess
get used to being around guys like I know I'm not actually touching them or
I'm actually with them but it helps being around them per se and it helps
make me feel more comfortable even though I've had a really shitty
experience it's like it's helped for me in the long run and even when I'm going
out and in real life like going to the grocery store or going to work I'm
starting to feel a lot more comfortable around people and around men especially
to the extent of like Oh like I'm gonna go up to them and touch them or whatever
like I just feel more confident in my ability of being around them whereas
before I would cower away and I just rather be far far away from them it's
given me a chance to actually be around many different people or all over the
world and I know that they're all over the world but with virtual reality it
gives you the chance to like actually feel like you're in the same room with
that person I don't want to say it gives you the illusion but it technically does
give you the illusion that you're there with that person and you're able to
interact with them and you can like be affectionate to them you can hug them or
you can dance with them whatever and that has helped me just in general with
people like being more comfortable with people like I'm so comfortable on here
that now I'm starting to be more comfortable in her life I think it's a
better way of expressing yourself or expressing yourself as someone who you'd
want to be rather than who you are in real life you don't have to be anyone
specific in VR you don't have to bend to any rules any social norms you know you
can just be a better you or a different you and I think that's a really great
thing for people to be able to choose between across the country for me but
you're sitting right in front of me and we're having a real conversation it's
just a very intimate social experience it's like you're as if you're with that
person and there's no way you can judge that person based on the way they look I
you don't know what they look like Aaron and persona you know I don't have white
hair and allows me to talk to more people and get used to talking to other
people and interacting rather than what I like do real life which is I have
panic attacks and all that when it comes like big crowds and I'm here like with
big crowds it's there's no like panic attacks or anything so it kind of slowly
helps me and you can completely more other people's perception on you where
you have very limited control over that in real life it's very tempting to just
come here and escape all the troubles that you have in real life because I
myself personally I deal with Tatum out of the passion and when I come on here
I'm a completely different self this self that doesn't deal with the kind of
problems that I do it's completely different reality for a better term in
my current town there is about three bars and that's about the only things
that people do around here to socialize and you have to pick and choose from the
10 or 15 people that show up to those bars and that's all you got if you walk
up to somebody and their outward appearance you automatically notice and
you start judging them or like I like to say sizing them up and you just
automatically create that first impression in your mind of who they are
and it sticks with you but in VR you don't know what that person looks like
so the only thing that you really get is their mind
I am very socially awkward in fact there was a point in time whenever I almost
lost my job because of my socially like my anxiety it got the best of me I
couldn't even couldn't even perform I was so nervous and here you guys can't
look into my face you can't see how I tightened my lips whenever somebody says
a certain thing you can't see my facial expression
whenever somebody is saying something that's sweet and I just don't know how
to take it I mean it's really cool about the fact that you you can see only what
I allow you to see but I'm also being my genuine self because I can hide all of
that unintentional body language you know I can I can figure out instead of
how you're you're just gonna stare and analyze me I drop my flower instead of
you looking directly into my eyes and you seeing me kind of glance away or or
fidget with something or how I turn red in the face and I blush you can't see
that you only allow what I let you see and that way I can play with my own
emotions as well and train them to actually adapt as social standards it's
it's a really good thing because if you have a moment where you're laughing
uncontrollable or if you're even in a world and you're just having a really
bad day and you can't help but cry and your nose is running you don't want to
hear or you don't want people to hear you sniffling in your mind you can just
mute yourself and you can just walk around and act happy and it's okay if
you do come into a world and you've established a good community of friends
like I have been really blessed to be able to then you can come on and you can
talk to people and they will do whatever it takes to make you get out of that
funk and it's it's awesome I've had some really good experiences with friends and
I've also helped them to I mean it's it's an awesome thing it's helped me
with my anxiety as well you can't let people say get to you and they're gonna
say it just to be mean and so I transferred that into the real world and
I've allowed that to adapt to you my my job the world and my friend circle - in
real life this VR chat experience that I've had it's helped me kind of detach
myself from the words that they're saying and kind of build the emotion on
where it's coming from and not let the words get to me as much so I mean that
was that was pretty cool I didn't know that I could do that and
so and so I hung out here for a while but my legs are misto can you edit that
out swear to God if I had a choice all the people that I hang out with here
would be my friends and real like - God if I could pick
all over the world a group of friends that just be at my hometown and just
hang out with me on a daily basis it would be the circle that I've created on
here yo yo hold on hold on do not leave this video just yet if you guys like
these videos just as much as I like making them then please leave me some
comments suggestions in the comments below so I can turn this virtual reality
thing into a series of videos that are just like this one also I have to
mention that this video was made with the National Suicide Prevention Month in
mind so if you or anybody that you know is going through it then you have the
potential to save somebody's life there's a phone number right here on
screen that you can call that it will help you out and also never forget that
you are not the only one going through it if you've watched this video there
are people going through it just like you are so please stay strong stay
fighting stay dreaming and stay lucid I'm out peace