>>243499Realization is the first step. I used to be absolutely terrible at being social. I was the weird kid, with no real ability to understand why I wasn't being accepted. My watershed moment was when I sat down one day and realized that everyone else had friends and was well liked for who their are, but I wasn't. This was somewhere around 8th grade. The scientist and gamer in me started to try and find the system. What is everyone doing, and how I can learn to do that, too?
So, I just started watching my peers socialize and engaging in some extremely painful trial and error to figure out what I should be doing, and taking really good mental notes when I fucked up. The only thing I can do is recommend that you try and pick up a new line of thinking. Fake it until to make it, and mimic what you see successful people do. I know, that sounds like shit advice, but it honestly does work. If you copy what everyone else is doing and it works, you can start making the copy/paste stuff your own. I hate to give this advice, but reading The Game, by Neil Strauss, helped me really form the 'trial and error' mindset. Fuck all that pickup artist stuff. The only thing worth taking away from that book is "don't be afraid to fail."
So, try new strategies. That's what I did. When things work, take note. When they fail, take even bigger note. When did it go sour? Why? Could I have done something different? Go over these things in your head.
Try going to up five strangers a day in some context and being friendly. Strike up a conversation.
I'm sorry if this is shit advice, it's almost four for me. I'm better at analyzing situations than platitudes. If you've got examples, I can really work with that.
