I hadn’t have the best interaction with people and I have made friends that I felt wasn’t great for me as well as gotten out an controlling relationship a year ago. It has eaten up my self-esteem where I am scared to actually talk to anyone in real life as I worried similar thing would happen.
I know I need to push myself out there which is easier said than done. One thing I tried to do is if I am in a decent mood, I got to one the social group which is on like every month as well as join in to my friend’s karaoke night and sing terribly. Sadly, I’m not Mariah Carey… 😔
So I have taken slow steps up which is better than taking none I guess but I got long way till I feel confident in myself where I stop worrying about everything as it really does held me back in general.
As others have said, find some group events that you can attend. Something where everyone is there for the same reason, and will be working on the same thing together. Something that happens in the same time and place regularly - preferrably weekly. Something that you think will be fun. Then, show up.
If you find showing up to these things hard, just break the process down into smaller steps, and congratulate yourself on doing each step. For example, if you are anxious about going to some event, tell yourself “all I have to do is walk out my front door with the intention of going.” And if you do that, then you’ve made progress, even if you immediately turn around and go back inside. Then next week, you can push yourself to arrive at the place where the event is, congratulate yourself, and then turn around and go home if you want. Then next week, walk up to the building, touch the door handle, and run away. Then walk in the door, but look down at your phone like you are lost, and walk out. Etc.