Fear of social gatherings
I am a single, morbidly obese woman in my early 30s and I have an intense fear of social situations. I have skipped family events and graduations. I have skipped social work functions. I have signed up for classes and events and skipped them. I am afraid of looking foolish, not knowing what to say, boring everyone, not looking good, etc. I feel like people will be looking at me and judging me: the way I talk, look, think, act.
Sometimes, in an effort to go, I will get dressed and look my best but by the time I pull into the parking lot, I realize I cannot go in and I leave. I spend a great deal of time in isolation, and do not want to continue to live this way. Most of my time is spent overeating, oversleeping, reading, surfing the Web. Ironically, I work in a field where I have to give presentations quite often. When the day is done, I lock the door and hide from my colleagues. I have no real-life friends and do things to push people away like not return phone calls, show up late or not at all, say "Yes, sounds fun" when offered an invitation and then no-show, etc.
Thank you for any advice you can offer.