It took me a long time to realize it but the ability to connect with people isn't something you're born with... It's something you learn how to do by doing it a lot. For me, the best way to do that has been to just find local social events and go to them. Like maybe there's a board game club or video game club or something...?
I dunno, I just feel like giving up isn't the best plan, unless you genuinely don't want to find connections.
Oh, I couldn't really give up...as upset or depressed as things may get me, I eventually bounce back and try again. It's just my nature...and while I may have once been a total loner, I emotionally thrive on having close, personable friendships...it's something that I crave, and it's agonizing when I don't have that.
Real life has always been a problem for me, just in that I don't have much in common with most people around here...but even when I think I would have something in common with people, I don't even know how to get things started with them. I rarely have an opportunity to casually chat or mingle with those people, and it seems like it'd be awkward and weird to just go up to them out of nowhere and start talking to them.
But what really bothered me was my lack of connections online, a space where I have much in common with others and I have never had a problem in that area before. Sometimes I feel like an outcast in ways that I shouldn't, and sometimes I feel like I'm not relating to people in ways that I should be able to...ways that I used to be able to. That makes me think something has gone wrong with my mindset in general...
Took me a while to remember who Jason was, for a second I was wondering if we had a new member or something
Evey and I were part of a community where most people were on a first-name basis...in fact, for a time we both used our real names as our usernames...and well, she still does here.
Actually I think it's a shame that's not a tradition that we have here...I think it helps people connect as...well, people. Not as anonymous beings behind a screen.