[Jenz]

> it could be poor social skills.

Is this an area where you can improve? My social skills are abyssmally non-existant... I am in a suprisingly similar situation to satokemas, all but the fact that I do not ever doubt "why bother" (I love the world) and I go to high school— I don’t work, that is.

I’ve been alone for two years in school now, although I just recently got one friend that is very understanding, though I guess I’ll still be alone almost all the time, this last year of school.

This is sad, I don’t like things being sad. Therefore I want to do something about it...

[dc90]

You can improve, as everything, with enough trying and failing :).

I did almost all of the school years mostly alone: I connected with very few people, even at university, mostly because i always had the anxiety of "what if I fail", "what if they don't like me".

After starting to work and after changing country twice (trying to change everything i didn't like about myself every time) the biggest lesson I think I learned is that basically everybody has always the same self-doubts, internal problems, etc. Everybody has a life as difficult and complex as yours, but you can just see the external side of it (the side they want to show you).

It's just not worth keeping up a fake image of yourself and never "risking" doing something because of fear of what happens, just live life doing what you love/feel like, and you'll find other people that like you for whatever you really are :)

In 5 years from now nobody from your school will remember even the biggest failures (and even if someone does, chances are you won't meet them again - if you don't actively work together to remain friends). So go out and try talking to new people, open up about what you really like to some trustworthy-looking people and see if they like something that you like too :)

[Jenz]

Thanks, this sounds nice.

Complex things, us humans...

[slothtrop]

> Is this an area where you can improve?

Yes. As with everything else it just gets easier the more you do it. We feel at our most socially awkward in high school I think, in part because we're unfairly hard on ourselves. People are way more forgiving of social awkwardness than we think, stumbling is not the end of the world. For instance, how would you react if someone was socially awkward around you? Exactly.

Relax, have fun, sleep well. You don't have to be a talkative extrovert to be liked; I'm an introvert and never chat anyone's ear off except with things I can geek out over (music, games). You grow confidence as you engage more, but to get to that point you have to break out of your shell somewhat.

A medium always helped to relate to others in my case, be it sports, music or gaming.

[tempestn]

In addition to the other things mentioned, I'll just add that once you graduate you'll have a whole new environment with new opportunities to make friends. In particular, if you go to college I would recommend living on campus: dorm housing tends to often be a built-in group of friends. (And if you don't like the crowd you end up with, you can always move for the next semester.)

More generally though, you're still young and have lots of new opportunities to make friends ahead of you. So while I definitely agree with some of the other replies, if you find yourself struggling still, just remember high school isn't forever and there will be new opportunities in the future; you just have to be ready to take full advantage of them.

[p1esk]

My social skills are abyssmally non-existant

I think you mean something else, because you're here, publicly expressing your thoughts, pretty well I might add, and you've already engaged a few people in a conversation.

I'm pretty sure your school has people you can socialize with, but you probably just don't want to socialize with them. Maybe it's because you don't find those people attractive or interesting, just like some other people in your school don't find you interesting or attractive. That's normal.

[condercet]

Social skills are skills that can be improved upon like any other. A good place to start would be seeing if there are improv classes near you.