Timid and shy Isadore rarely leaves his home, and tends to be by himself most of the time. He is troubled by anxiety, and tends to overthink everything. His anxiety isn’t helped by his countless phobias, many of them severe enough to easily drive him into a panic attack. Still, Isadore is trying to make the best out of life, even though he often finds it difficult to even step outside of his front door.

Despite his reserved nature, Isadore has a few people who he couldn’t live without. Mainly his siblings and parents, but also two friends who he went to school with. They were the outcasts who banded together back then, and they have helped each other get through some pretty tough times, each of them having their own struggles. You could say that Isadore is slightly dependent on those who are the closest to him, as when it gets tough, he at least has those people to fall back on.

In fact, Isadore is a polite and kind man under all his anxiety and worries. It might take a long time to get to know him, but he truly is something more than the thick walls he has built around himself might tell. Isadore has a good heart. He never wishes to insult anyone, but his reserved nature might come off as him being rude or inconsiderate. Still, Isadore never wishes to be hurtful towards anyone, and it isn’t a wonder that he worries about how he might come off in certain situations.

Unsurprisingly, Isadore has some mental health issues. As mentioned before, he suffers from many phobias that cause him to have high levels of anxiety. Isadore tends to spend a lot of time inside of his head with thoughts caused by his fears. Often these thoughts are debilitating, especially when it comes to his most prominent fears—social anxiety, agoraphobia and germophobia. These often make it difficult for him to leave his home, and he tends to spend a lot of time in his head, trying to reason with his irrational thoughts, but he never gets anywhere.

Isadore has been to therapy many times in his life, but he never seems to open up enough to actually start working on his problems. He has never dared to talk about his issues properly, since he doesn’t want others to worry about him—though his reservedness about his issues might have a completely opposite effect. Medication, too, has been something Isadore has been trying out, but nothing seems to be working. Either his anxiety and panic attacks won’t let up, or the side effects turn out to be not worth the little help he would get out of being on the medication.

Isadore has always been into literature. He has bookshelves full of books, and you can be sure that Isadore has read every single one of them at least once. Reading isn’t his only passion when it comes to literature, because he writes as well. Mostly he does journaling, pouring his thoughts into flowery language on pages, but he dabbles in poetry as well. However, he has no confidence in the products of his own mind, and doesn’t have any kinds of goals or aspirations when it comes to writing.

It was a beautiful summer day when a couple welcomed a pair of twins into their family. Isadore would be the third, and youngest sibling, though only by twenty minutes. As far as circumstances were concerned, his childhood was happy. His family was tight-knit, and Isadore is still close to them to this day, and his father’s work as a doctor provided the family with quite the stable income, so none of the children never lacked anything.

Despite these privileged beginnings, Isadore started showing signs that his life wouldn’t be that easy from an early age. As a toddler and a young child he had severe separation anxiety related to his mom, and Isadore would be almost glued to her at all times. He would only play if his mother was in the room, and sleeping on his own seemed to be impossible for Isadore, with him coming into his parents’ room every single night hysterically crying until he was allowed to sleep in their bed. These behaviors really put a strain on the family, but it wasn’t like they blamed Isadore for any of it—he was just a kid who was a little too attached to his mother. Despite this reasoning, Isadore’s mom did take him to counseling, but it seemed to do nothing for the young boy’s anxiety.

When it came time for Isadore to go to school, he definitely didn’t do too well. At least he had his twin to make it a little easier. Quiet and reserved, Isadore tended to stick to himself, though sometimes he was almost glued to his sibling, as if they were the only thing bringing him comfort. Though Isadore often was mercilessly bullied thanks to him crying so easily, as well as because he was so quiet and reserved. Things didn’t change much during Isadore’s school years, though he did get a couple friends who he came along with. These were outcasts like Isadore, and they found company in each other in their shared predicament when it came to their reputation among their peers.

As Isadore got older, his anxiety only seemed to worsen. He started experiencing panic attacks. These issues started interfering with his success in school, and he lagged behind thanks to all the lessons he missed and schoolwork he didn’t have the mental capacity to do. He went to a therapist, but since Grants was such a small town, and he really didn’t get along with the only therapist, he didn’t get anywhere. It was during his second year in high school when Isadore simply couldn’t keep up with his studies anymore, and he dropped out.

Isadore tried to find any work around Grants, but as he didn’t finish school, his options were limited. He tried retail a few times, but couldn’t overcome his anxiety and fears in order to earn some money. He couldn’t stick to a schedule, unsure when his mental state would worsen. Isadore was desperate to gain independence, so he tried doing some work he could do at home. In fact, he did quite well in customer service through text, and for six months his life looked like it was going uphill. He managed to move out of his parents’ house, and build a home for himself in an apartment in Grants. It wasn’t anything glorious, but a nice, renovated, albeit small apartment was everything Isadore needed.

Though as expected, Isadore’s mental health crashed, and he missed work enough times that he couldn't keep his job. His father bailed him out, offering to pay for Isadore’s rent, as well as buy him groceries. Though disappointed in himself, and embarrassed that he needed his dad to bail him out, Isadore was happy that his life didn’t crash entirely. He could try to find another job, though this time less confident that he could actually do anything.

This was the pattern in Isadore’s life for a couple of years, before suddenly Isadore found a job that stuck. He claims that he’s working a similar job to the first online job he had, though this isn’t necessarily the truth. Still, Isadore’s life seems stable these days, at least to the outside, even though his anxiety still troubles him.

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