Hello. I have no idea how to act around other people. Often times I will alternate between being very obnoxious and loud to being quiet and stand offish. I often act and self label as an asshole and people tend to agree. I can’t say that people hate me, while at the same time I can’t say people like me either. If anything, people are indifferent towards me. They might act annoyed or tolerate being around me, but they never outright say they like having me around or tell me to fuck off. I’m just not important enough for that. There are some instances where a person will invite me over to hang out in their backyard or start up a conversation. For the most part though, no one makes an effort to be around me. I’m just there. And it’s hard to fault them for that. I never gave anyone a good reason to want to like me. I’m not particularly interesting and I can be kind of a dick. Sometimes I think to myself, does that cute girl ever think about me when I’m not around or do some of the guys ever consider inviting me to the movies. Then I think that I’m probably the furthest thing from everybody’s mind. I’m just not important enough. That’s fine. I think I’m starting to get used to the loneliness. I only ever feel it when I’m around other people anyways. Thanks for listening.
3 comments
Hi
I tried so hard to make friends with them after 19 years ( I’m 19)
I just have 2 friends because there are not so many people who understand us without any extra explanation or judgment and also I,personally can’t and won’t tell my ideas or try to speak with them because they simply can’t understand.I will be happy if you want to mail me it’s my mail address :” negaremadi.92@gmail.com“
I can say I recognize a bit of my younger self in this.
I found that my “erratic” acting in terms of varying personalty behavior, was because my awkwardness and lack of “understanding how to be”, made me act and project in a manner i thought was fitting to the appropriate situation or person I was with.
Sometimes it works, other times it bombs hard. What I eventually found was that the age old cliché “be your self” was true. At least to a degree, maybe not 100%, don’t be a dick just to be a dick, add 80-90% of yourself and 10% manners or such, since there will always be a bit of a decorum when interacting with others
While that can be difficult for several reasons, and one might feel and find, “this shit aint working people hate me when I’m myself”, that might be right, not all people like, attract, or interact with the same things in mind. For me, the pretending, acting, made me feel worse than the loneliness on its own, and still made me feel lonely when surrounded by people.
Being my “self”, might mean that my sphere got smaller because not all agreed with it, but made me feel better, by a ton, compared to being in large social circle, having to fight and act to please everyone to try and not be lonely yet feel more lonely than ever
What could help with this is group “therapy”, I say therapy in quotes because it doesn’t have to be actual therapy, group meetings, support meetings can work just fine.
But while it didn’t really take on me, because of my other issues, I did find that group therapy for social anxiety was what had the best/closest thing to an impact.
For my little sister it worked wonders, really helped her come out of the shell, and form some connections and find comfort in a few more meaningful ones, than a sea of meaningless ones.
It can be hard to get an idea of how to “act”/be around people, if you aren’t actual around/with people, a group can help learn and deal with that, because the focus will be on that.
I can relate to the feeling of cluelessness when it comes to socializing.
One thing in your post that stands out to me is that you mention that people will occasionally initiate conversation with you or invite you over.
Do you ever do the same?
Because I have spent my life (I am now 32) waiting for others to invite me. Waiting for others to talk to me. Waiting for women to notice me. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
But why the f*** did I expect THEM to do all the work, when it was something I wanted?
Other people are just like you. They are not mind readers. They may be okay at reading people, but still. They have their lives, their worries. When they invite you over, or talk to you, they are taking a chance. They are practising. They are getting better at making things happen. Things they want.
Whereas me (and possibly you?), we are getting good at waiting.