r/Advice•
bip_q

My self esteem issues are genuinely ruining my life

I (17M) got in to looksmaxxing self improvement types of TikTok’s around 2 years ago and in that time I learnt to analyse any and every detail in my face. I deleted things like TikTok a few month ago to hopefully feel better about myself but all of the things I learnt are still ingrained in my head. Even though a lot of people (guys and girls) I talk to say Im attractive and that I ‘mog’ I still get genuinely scared whenever anyone points their camera in my direction because i genuinely hate seeing myself in pictures to the point where I’ve genuinely made friends and family pissed off by not wanting to be in any photos. I don’t even go outside because I have a phobia of being seen at all. The few times I get invited out I always have to make excuses as to why I don’t want to go and I can’t even take a 5 minute walk to the store to buy food when I need it. I lose at least 2 hours a day getting ready because I need to follow an entire routine just to feel like I look acceptable to go to school. It doesn’t help that my own mother used to say I looked like a rat (due to chin recession) before I got orthodontic treatment to fix it, but when I talk it’s still visible which has led me to feel how I said above bc it’s my biggest insecurity. I’m now at a point where I want to do remote sales, but since I grew up as an outcast I’m scared of talking to people, even over the phone, and although I don’t have to show my face I have to record videos explaining my experience, but it’s holding my career back from high positions since I genuinely can’t bear to look at myself on camera.

Posted Jul 11, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

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