like you know you’re a good person at heart but life circumstances and trauma and bullying and etc prevented you from learning the proper social skills to find companionship. not necessarily a forum to actually find friends (i find going into things with that intention feels fake and weird), but rather a forum to commiserate and share advice and coping mechanisms and so on.
loneliness is increasing worldwide, esp in men. and it’s very easy to get into the weeds on this of course…
happy fuckin holidays
I’ve quite liked HealthyGamerGGs discord channel. It has spaces pretty much dedicated to exactly what you’re looking for, practicing social situations in safe spaces. Coaching that’s not the hyper masculine pick-up game kind of coaching. Places to ask advice, mental health spaces, etc.
Reddit had things like over40, over50, and conversation subs.
If lemmy doesn’t have that, I think it should. Those were good places, less bubbled, and often more grounded. Just limited patience for those who constantly need help.
But if conversation is what’s desired, those worked.
I may not know you, but I hope the responses help and that your week kicks some ass.
Here’s to a good 2024.
Calling some groups “incel sickos” sounds rude and hateful to me and is best practice for going to be a incel sicko. I don’t want to judge, just a friendly warning.
Against loneliness there are good advices already written. Just an addition: first, be respectful and love to yourself. Second, do the same for others.
A lot of depressed people think, that other people could repair their hearts, but that’s not true. You start by yourself, the rest comes automatic.
Calling incle sickos “incel sickos” is 100% okay and acceptable. There is no reason to shy away from calling spades spades.
There is this idea that we need to pussyfoot around calling out hateful groups so what? We don’t offend them?
No, confront it head on. You encourage that type of behavior if you shy away from confronting it.
Don’t be so open minded your brain falls out.
a forum to commiserate and share advice and coping mechanisms and so on.
Speaking for myself here, but I feel like this can make the problem worse. /r/depression is something in a similar vein. Whenever I went there, I’d always leave sadder. There’s something about reading other people’s struggles that just seemed to reinforce my own sense of hopelessness.
Also, bad advice on those kinds of forums can look extremely reasonable if your perception of the world is clouded by your problems.
I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but give therapy a shot if you haven’t already.
Like others have said, having a friend that you see regularly can help with loneliness. Doesn’t even have to be strangers. Try messaging an old friend you drifted apart from. Odds are they’d be happy to catch up.
Sorry for the unsolicited advice. I know this isn’t the type of response you asked for. I hope everything works out for you, bud.
Bang on. I’m feeling down right now (relationship that ended I’ve never recovered from years later) and no amount of chatting with people online is going to fill that gaping hole or help me patch it.
Professional help should always be approached first and foremost.
Of course, that’s not accessible for many people which is a shame and for that I have no answer, just that seeking to fill that hole with like-feeling people online is a recipe in disaster. Negativity breeds negativity.
