Hi Leslie. This is what I did and it helped me a great deal. It might not get you completely out of where you are at, but it might actually ease some of your concerns.
What I did was..

1. Make a list of everything wrong with me.
2. Look at each flaw 1 at a time.
3. Ask myself if anyone else had these same flaws and it turned out most humans including a few aliens have these same flaws
4. I took inventory of what I could actually change and what I couldn’t change I made peace with it.
5. I made a list of every positive quality about me.

Sometimes what you fear about yourself isn’t really as bad as you think once you drag it into the open. If you just keep it bottled instead of looking at it, you never really get a clear picture of it, and it lives on to scare you. Pay no attention the man behind the curtain.

Another thing for that voice in my head that probably says similar things to yours is doing, “The Work” by Byron Katie. It’s amazing how effective it is because sometime asking if it’s true will open a new dialogue.

Finally. Like you I work at making great friends all the time. In fact I have actually worked at it a lot this year. One thing that really helps is to put aside the need for friendship and just talk to people everywhere I go, and I mean everywhere I go. Practice practice practice…At the grocery store. At the gym, at the restaurant and wherever there are people. I am not trying to establish a deep connection nor am I fake with people, but just getting to know people and find out who they are.
Although this seems kind of shallow, you’re slowly letting go of fears of rejection while exposing your honest self more and more. Best of all, you don’t ever realize it!

You don’t have to do it all at once either. Just chip at bit by bit. Remember…crawl, walk, run

• This reply was modified 11 years, 5 months ago by Tera.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 5 months ago by Tera.