Hey guys. First poster here. A few things have been on my mind lately and just wondering if anyone can help.
I've been with my boyfriend for just under a year and am having serious issues talking about my relationship with others. My boyfriend and I get on great and have lots in common but I'm having problems opening up about things. He has yet to meet my family because my anxiety is stopping me from doing anything about it. I have met his family a few times but I just don't know how to introduce him to my parents.

We were in our last year at college when we first started to date, and due to things like the overwhelming workload and the fact that this was a new experience for me, we decided to take things very slowly and keep things fairly quiet until our final exams had finished. A few friends knew from the beginning, but it wasn't until after we had finished uni that we started to tell the rest of our friends, and it filtered out quite gradually. I guess it was then that things became "official". But I was yet to tell my family. I know it's a not a big deal, and while I discussed things with my boyfriend and he didn't mind, I think he thought I was blowing everything out of proportion and isn't getting why I'm struggling. And he's probably right. I'm very much a private person and like to keep myself to myself, but I don't know why something as simple as this is proving to be so difficult for me. I feel pathetic and selfish.

I don't have a particularly bad relationship with my family, but at the same time things between us definitely aren't perfect. We mostly get on fine, but I don't talk to them much or confide in them, let alone talk to them about things in my personal life. We just aren't close. I spent a year or so living abroad and lived away from home while I was at uni, so I've become distant and just don't tell them much about whats going on in my life. The chances are, if they don't ask, they won't know. This is my first relationship so I've never had to do the whole meet-the-parents thing before. There's nothing wrong with my boyfriend that's stopping me bringing him home, nor is there anything about him that I'm worried my mom will disapprove of. He's a lovely guy and there's nothing not to like. It's just me. I feel like I will be judged and I feel really tense thinking about the whole thing. It doesn't really make sense. I guess I'm worried that they will make a fuss, or be nosey or somehow find something not to like. I've assured my boyfriend that it's nothing to do with him and I just need a little more time. He understands this, says there isn't really a rush and he doesn't seem bothered at all, but I do want to get over this hurdle.

The thought of it makes my heart race and panic, and I'm not sure why. My siblings have all had to go through it and they didn't seem to find it particularly gruelling. I have a quite a big family so my siblings tend to only bring their SO's around when most of the family is out. Should I start off small by just inviting him around for lunch when just my mom's home, and work through it gradually like with my friends?

Even though it's nobody's business but our own, people still ask/question about why he is yet to meet my family and it's making me so paranoid. I would go a while without worrying about it, then someone within our friend group asks how things are going and wind up on the fact he hasn't met my folks, or somehow it would come up in a conversation and I would freak out about it all over again. I've discussed my worries with my close friends and they said I should be able to just take my time with things and that it's nobody else's concern, but to my boyfriend's friends who don't know me well, I must seem like a bitch. And goodness knows what his family must think if they know he hasn't even met mine. This has been biting at me for a while and I don't know what to do. I think so irrationally and get paranoid over the littlest things, spending my work shifts with this on my mind. Why can't I just take the plunge? Thanks in advance!

TL;DR - Getting bad anxiety about thoughts of introducing my boyfriend to parents - feel horrible about it.