How do I get over my fear of talking to people? I'm always

this is honestly a good question because like all of my good friends i know i met in elementary/middleschool... wow

Don't put pressure on yourself.
I try to approach people with the attitude of "It doesn't matter what they think of me, but maybe I can say something to make their day a little better."
It's corny but it's helped me get over my social anxiety.

By their mid-20s, most people have an established circle of friends that they met in school/college/work/some kind of extracurricular, regular activity. This makes it hard to simply approach someone. If a total stranger showed up and asked you to be friends, how would you react?

Friendships don't fall out of the sky, they form over time and through shared experiences. This is why people make friends in places where they're forced to spend time with other people, such as school or work.

If you want to make new friends, the most surefire way to do it is by enrolling in some kind of class or regular activity that will put you in contact with other people. Eventually, if you're open to interacting with others, you will make friendly acquaintances. By asking to see them outside of the environment of the class/activity (such as by asking them out for coffee or inviting them over to your place), you can take that relationship to the next step and form an actual friendship.

Just like any other relationship, it takes time and effort, and it won't happen unless you put the work in.

One thing I can recommend is that you need to swallow your pride if you want to keep your friends. Let's say you have an old friend you haven't talked to in ages because he hasn't contacted you to do anything. You make the mistake of assuming that he doesn't want to hang out with you, so you don't contact him either. This is stupid. Sometimes people are busy, or they feel weird about restarting a conversation, but that's it. Go ahead and talk to them, ask them out. If they excuse themselves or ignore you, then there's your answer, but you'll never know unless you try.

>>18675766
What do you do when they accept your offer but you feel it's only to get back at you for not contacting them? Any signs to look out for? We'll probably hangout at my place

>>18675786

You're being unnecessarily paranoid. Just take the chance and see what happens. If it turns out that they did all this just to "get back" at you, they're the pathetic shit, not you.

>>18675753
>>18675766
yo both of these posts are actually stellar advice

>>18675570
Everyones weird.
Friend groups are constructed of people who are weird all in the same way.

Find your weirdo brethrin and learn surface social skills for others.

People are less judgemental than you think. As long as you arent obnoxious or an asshole theyre generally pretty accepting

>getting over fear

With exposure. Every positive experience will reinforce that everythings ok. This works for any fear at all.

Every negative experience will make it better too if you take on the perspective youre still alive and your friends still like you.

Having a bad experience isnt the end of the world. The most socially adept person will look like a total retard to the right group.

You are not unique in this way. People say stupid shit all the time, the receiving audience is what decides whether or not its actually stupid.

>>18675570
youtube com/watch?v=iH3xXrk9JrQ