my future....

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how do you become inedependent? how do you develop the skills neccesary to be able to live on your own, get and keep a job, form meaningful relationships/friendships and succeed in life (or at least be a functional member of society)?
I only have 2 years of school left, and ive realized that I have to start becoming more independent.by the time i finish school I want to be able to live on my own,get a job, go to university,get involved in groups in the community, be able to make real friendships/relationships (I have friends at school, but my social anxiety and depression makes it hard to get as close to them as I want, for example, I cant really initiate conversations/ask them to hang out and it is literally hard for me to talk- because of my constant paranoia+the voices in my head that tell me that Im going to be judged,ridiculed,hated,excluded, seen as some kind of ugly/creepy "thing" etc). I dont want to become a homeless recluse that no one cares about and I definitely dont want to live with my parents for my whole life. I want to be able to do something productive in life and be cared about and remembered (I dont want to be one of those people that die with no friends/partners etc and they are put in an umarked grave and no one knows/cares about or remembers them). how am I supposed to take steps towards becoming independent,succesful and being able to have a good social life? My parents havent done anything to help me become more independent and they have actually hindered my social life because they have refused to let me try medication for my anxiety, they believe that I am just faking my mental illness, they believe that I can just change my thinking and they dont seem to care about my social life/my future.....

Well, at 15 I also had difficulties but probably not as much as you or possibly equal.

For now I will focus on the social skills part.

During high school, I developed decent social skills through hardwork, effort and dedication. It was very trial and error and I learned from gaining experience. I did almost anything and everything, no matter how brave and confident, or creepy and odd it was.

I branched out as much as possible, met as much people as possible, attempted as many friendships and different kind of friendships as possible. I experienced more failure, pain and misery than success, but learned from it.

What you've got to ask yourself is, do you have what it takes?

I can't really specify what I did, and I can't really describe it either. All I can say is, I took risks, and learned from many mistakes I made. I asked girls I liked out, even if awkwardly, or I would just confess my feelings onlin through facebook and see how they react, I would talk to them and be friends with them first, I would try to be friends with other females as just friends.

A trick that did somewhat work but I don't recommend is, I ws often friends with popular kids with decent social skills. The thing is, they used me a bit as a loyal/sympathetic friedn without really caring about me back. There was this one narcissistic a55h•le I associated myself with last year.

But, it actually exposed me to a large variety of other people, and learning to interact and deal with a variety of people also increases your social skills. I basically clinged onto these popular people while they were with their genuine friends, except I didn't realize at the time.

It's something of a 'gateway' to exposing yourself to more people, people you'd never be able to talk to if it weren't for that popular friend/acquiantance in the middle.

I also felt anxious about asking friends if they'd like to hang out. Thing is yes you will get plenty of no's or even hang out with them once or twice and then they make up excuses after excuses but just try.

The thing is I don't know just how crippling your anxiety was or not. I had anxiety, depression, etc. and still made through.

Good luck.

I did workstudy in school for some experience and to get a newer reference after I lost the last job before that, because I didn't get along with that employer... at all. Not sure if yours offers something anything life that.

If not you could try volunteering someplace close by a couple times a week. Consider it low-risk social anxiety and job training while you're still finishing school. Show up on time, be friendly to others, get through the day sane, etc.