And I was countering your reply.
So you try, you get turned down. Does it hurt? Yes. Is it the end of the world? If anyone replies with “yes” that is a serious issue because it is not.
Getting a “no” for an answer is almost guaranteed. What is there to lose? Perhaps the lost “yes” for not trying.
You’re missing the point. You’re trying to solve an emotional problem with logic. Your logic is sound enough but won’t help anyone emotionally hurt.
You’re right on the mark there: I missed the point, a good number of times, which sent me into a downward spiral.
It took a good amount of time and help to aknowledge I was responsible for 90% of my suffering.
Good on you ! I was never able to overcome this. I was lucky to meet my wife who is just as awkward, otherwise it’s safe to say I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask anybody out until much later in life. I remember a high school classmate telling me more or less verbatim what you said above : “ask, if she says no, so what?” unfortunately that never helped. Some of us were simply too shy, too far removed from social norms, or perhaps too autistic to act on that. Human interactions are a mystery to some of us. In fact, what he said made things worse for me, because it made me realize just how developmentally late I was, and seeing how easy it was for some people to get over the initial apprehension furthered my feelings of isolation.