I feel the same way! Probably why I tend to date way older than me.
Aside from paralyzing shyness, I’ve been told more than once that I give off a Do Not Approach vibe. An unconcious defense mechanism I suppose. I have maybe two friends, one whom I consider a good friend and have known for ten years, and another with whom I converse seldom and see even less.
I have two ideas that nobody’s suggested yet. Great thread everybody, by the way.
- Advertise. In our local free weekly’s personals there’s a section called “Just Friends”. It’s people looking for friends. There are usually only 2 or 3, mostly women. If you can find such a category you could put in an ad, or answer somebody else’s
2.Give a regular party.
I have a friend who is an interesting, but slightly awkward, odd guy. He had a party just about every month. It was nothing flashy, nor particularly drunken. It was usually the same food, and his apartment usually looked pretty bachelor-guy messy.
This regular party made it really easy for him to offer something low-key to a new aquaintance…“Hey, by the way, there’s a little party at my place, Tuesday, why don’t you come?” This made it possible to create a “circle of friends” out of a mish mash of acquaintances from work at several different places, school, and other interests.
I was really impressed by his approach. It may seem like a lot of work (indeed I have been meaning to use this method myself and not gotten around to it), but once he’d done it a few times, he just had a routine.
This is how he got to know the woman who became his wife!
good luck to you Tell, and all the rest of us too!