Practice being cognizant of this. Visualize yourself being aware of this while talking with people. This kind of visualization often helps me realize when I am engaging in behavior I want to change.
I don’t need to change, I just need more people to talk to outside of work. Making new friends at my age is the Dark Souls of socializing 💀
Quantify everything in terms of video game difficulty might be the first red flag
Yes, but if you don’t deal with the negative feelings you have when people comment on something you’re self conscious about, its still going to affect you. Not everything can be solved with exposure therapy.
Board game groups, trivia, coed pickup sports in the summer, Facebook social groups for any of your interests (hiking, gaming, book clubs, etc)
The only reliable way to make actual friends is be somewhere where you bump into them on a regular basis. If you’re a shut-in it’s not gonna happen.
I went to a board game meetup group for a while but never ended up having many conversations outside of what was needed for the games themselves. I think the facebook thing might have had something to do with it, the group organized mostly through facebook and people suggested I communicate with it but I am banned from facebook and don’t want to use it anyway.
