Going from a major loser to a guy with a 'life'

Viper

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If you looked loser in the dictionary you would get me, no life, no friends, no social skills what so ever, sure I look good, clean myself up and I'm a good musician, but that still doesn't help the fact that I'm a flat out loser. But I'm aiming to change that and my goal is to, by the end of the year, not get laid, not get a girlfriend, but to get a life.

I want to make more friends, but I'm afraid that if I go up to a random person(Especially, guy) and start conversation, I'll say something stupid, they won't like me/think I'm cool enough, or I'll just get flat out rejected. To add to that, my conversationial skills are almost non-existant, I'm afraid to even approach a random person and say "Hey, how's it going? What's your name?", because I'm afraid I won't be able to build enough interest, to become that persons friend. I think that all this insecurity comes from one thing, the fact that I care too much about what other people think and it's really hard for a guy like me not to. It's definitely a problem, I'm always thinking about people judging me, I never feel that I'm good enough for them, I constantly think about what spectators will think if I do this or that, I definitely care too much and I want to change that. I don't even have to know the person and I'll still be paranoid that they're judging and thinking badly about me. It doesn't even have to be anything big, I could be in the lunchroom and just want to walk around, but then I think about all the people out there in the cafeteria, judging me and I just sit my ass back. I could even be thinking about approaching a girl and then I'll think, "What does X think of me? What if I fail or look like a lamer, while trying to mack that girl and X thinks I'm a total idiot". But enough complaining, I'm tired of seeking peoples approval, so I want to know, do you guys have any advice on adapting that no care attitude, for some who has seeked others approval, for his whole life? I'm willing to change and knowing this would really help me out.

My conversational skills are non-existant, to add to that, I have a very hard to understand voice and people often misunderstanding me and I don't think people want to be friends with somebody, that they can't even understand. I'm sure you've heard that bit about how bad my voice is before, so I'll cut to the chase. My conversational skills are just bad, I can hardly ever compare or build rapport with people, I feel that if I don't plan what I say beforehand, the conversation won't good, I'm not one of those guys who just naturally flows in conversation. Secondly and this goes back to the previous topic, I'm just afraid that people won't like me or that I won't build rapport if I talk to them. There was this girl in the 6th Grade who was sitting next to me on the bus, that I wanted to start small talk with, to practice my skills, but I didn't do it, because I thought too much and I was too damn insecure. When you can't even convo a girl in the 6th Grade, a girl 4 grades below you, you know you suck. My conversational decline didn't just start here either, as a boy I was always shy, didn't really like talking to people, it wasn't until 6th grade that I started becoming more social. In 7th Grade, by some miracle, I became one of the most social guys in Junior High, I was well liked, I was naturally funny, girls loved me, I felt GOOD about myself, then over summer, my parents, without even asking me, decide to move, so of course I had to go to a new school. The movement had me really depressed for a while, the thought of never seeing my friends at my old school again, made me sad and at my new school in 8th Grade, I became shy again. During lunch I always sat alone, during recess, I would just sit alone, watching everybody socialize and when people tried to talk to me, I just mumbled under by breath. 2 years later, it has improved and I'm not as depressed as I was back then and people are now more comfortable being around me(I use to only take a shower once a week, until someone inspired me to clean up my look, now I take showers everyday and dress much better), but I'm still a loser.

My life outside of school is non-existant and besides school, I spend most of my inside my house, in my room. I used to have band practices Wednesday nights and during the football season, we would go to the teams games and march at halftime, but now that the football season is over, my Wednesday and Friday nights are pretty much free, to lay around and do nothing. That's pretty much how my life outside of school can be described, NON-EXISTANT. When I come home from High School, I go up to my room, stay there until dinner, get dinner, bring it upstairs to my room, eat dinner, stay in my room until School the next day, I might occasionally weight train, but that's it. But I'm tired not having a life and I want to change it, I want a more active life, now, I'm thinking about joining a sport or maybe joining a club and if you guys have any other suggestions, make sure to tell me.
 
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Veyron

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just go up to someone you think you may have something in common with him or her. start talking to them about that or something that may intrewst them. ask what certain exercises they do for weight training for example, and btw the bigger you are muscle wise the less people give you ****. join a sport and get some confidence. the strange thing aout being cool is that i really dont care what people think unless they say it to my face,in that case i usually punch them.:) one of my friends thinks that playing on-line games helped him get over his social phobia,maybe that is why he curses alot. and since the football season is now over join wrestling.sports help your confidence.
 

Morphiex

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hey man i used to be just like that. i only had soccer opractise and usually my time was like . shcool-home in my room-soccer practise-my room-dinner-my room-shcool..... but then after i started not caring so much about what other thouhgt of me , i got many friends easily , everyone started to know me and wanted to hang out with me.... I started out by getting a friend in my own class then she introduced me to her friends and they became my friends and they introduced me to other people and so on.... and i do sometimes speak a little unclear but they dont really mind cuz they know im a good guy.... So what im saying is try not to look for approval so hard and be yourself , dont go around talking **** about people , be nice say hey to people and **** u know in your class , hang out with them at brakes and stuff just let them get to know you.... and after some time youl see thatyou can make friends easily....

about the conversation skillz well thats may be something u have to imprve by just talking to alot of people , listening to what other people say and such... after some time youl get the hang of it yourself....

and about sports, yes u should join a sport, imo soccer is a great game and everyone can play it, but it depends on what you like to do , just go and watch a few games of different sports and choose the one that u see yourself playing and having fun playing... And youl prolly make friends while doing sports....

but hey good luck to ya man, hope everything goes well for you =) cheers =)
 

familyguyfan

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Glad you've finally realized this.

Go back to that thread titled something like "Advice For Viper Thread" and I think I posted several posts in there about how you can get some friends.
 

oakraiderz2

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Originally posted by familyguyfan
Glad you've finally realized this.

Go back to that thread titled something like "Advice For Viper Thread" and I think I posted several posts in there about how you can get some friends.
:up:
 

DJ4Real

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Here's a number for you, Viper.

1-800-Get-Some
Ext. Charisma

If you have charisma you can have friends and a life....
 

immrtlwun

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Do you ever actually try any of the suggestions that we give you here? You always have the same problems, just with a different person or situation.

Why should you care if you say something stupid? If you're as big of a loser as you are convinced that you are, you probably don't have much to lose by at least attempting to talk to a person.

Basically, go out and try some of the things that we've been telling you since you first joined with these exact same problems.
 

KaminoSS

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lol when i read the tital i thaught it b the greatest success story on this board, EVER. (not putn u down or nuttin, i believe in you)

ok,
this might be a little radical for you, and might or might not work but can, and its a little piece of advice a friend of mine told me btw: he is one of the more popular people in my school.


Do somthing stupid and out there, that will grab every ones attenion. get others talking about you, get people to go up to you and talk about what ever it is. makea name for yourself. for my friend he joined the "spirit rally commission" he goes in front of the school and does stupid **** for "school spirit building" he evean did a shopping cart during an assembly. but the idea is you get your name out there. you become somebody by doing somthing big and not JUST talkign to peopel evry now and then

as i said before this mifght work n it might not, but if you do somthing like this it will build your confidence. and maybe make u "cool" oir "tool" if you can handle the pressure who knows.
 

Smooth Player 056

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You mentioned joining a club. DO IT NOW!!!!

This way you wont have to think of a random conversation to bring up (it sounds like you cant do that)...in the club you can just talk about whatever the club is about....not too much thinking for that.

Make at least 1 friend in the club.....soon invite him out for something.

Next, make another good friend in the club....now you can invite friend number 1, and friend number 2 out.

Thats how I think you should approach this situation.


Love
~Smooth
 
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Brian20o2

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I'm glad to see viper is no longer just going around complaining. He is now taking control of his own life and destiny. Do good man, and dont forget your goals. *salutes*
 

gravstar

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Your the only one holding yourself back, so do the stuff you said. It's also like your continuously stabbing yourself with all the paying out you do to yourself. If YOU think your a loser then it will show and everyone else will think so too. Have you ever noticed the really popular guys? They all think they're top sh!t, you know there up themselves, so does everyone else, yet it rubs off and everyone starts thinking the same. Get It?
 

Holland

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I've said it before and I will say it again

Get a hobby..... AND YOU MUST LIKE IT!
Not get a hobby to get a hobby, but get a hobby to enjoy it!

Period. Friends will become much easyer since you can share interests with them. I mean, if you don't know what the hell you're interested in or what you like, how can you ever how a interesting conversation with someone? So get that, FIRST and FOREMOST
 

Viper

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Originally posted by gravstar
Your the only one holding yourself back, so do the stuff you said. It's also like your continuously stabbing yourself with all the paying out you do to yourself. If YOU think your a loser then it will show and everyone else will think so too. Have you ever noticed the really popular guys? They all think they're top sh!t, you know there up themselves, so does everyone else, yet it rubs off and everyone starts thinking the same. Get It?
Just have one thing to say here, that it's not the easy man. You just can't constantly tell yourself your the top sh*t and then instantly become that.
just go up to someone you think you may have something in common with him or her. start talking to them about that or something that may intrewst them. ask what certain exercises they do for weight training for example, and btw the bigger you are muscle wise the less people give you ****.
The thing is, when your approaching random people, you don't know what they're interested in. What's a good way to build up rapport? You know, what's a good fast, way to figure out what the person likes and enjoys?
I don't think just going up to someone, especially a girl, just saying "Hey how's it going" and then saying "So what do you in your freetime" out of randomness, sounds natural.
Do somthing stupid and out there, that will grab every ones attenion. get others talking about you, get people to go up to you and talk about what ever it is. makea name for yourself. for my friend he joined the "spirit rally commission" he goes in front of the school and does stupid **** for "school spirit building" he evean did a shopping cart during an assembly. but the idea is you get your name out there. you become somebody by doing somthing big and not JUST talkign to peopel evry now and then
While that's nice and all and might work for some people, I just don't think that would be me, plus, I don't want to make myself look like a complete idiot infront of the whole school, especially with a reputation like I have now.
You mentioned joining a club. DO IT NOW!!!!

This way you wont have to think of a random conversation to bring up (it sounds like you cant do that)...in the club you can just talk about whatever the club is about....not too much thinking for that.

Make at least 1 friend in the club.....soon invite him out for something.

Next, make another good friend in the club....now you can invite friend number 1, and friend number 2 out.

Thats how I think you should approach this situation.


Love
~Smooth
Well, I would join a club, but I don't which one I should, for there aren't alot of them that interest me. But yeah, that would make finding a topic for conversation alot easier, but there just aren't a lot of clubs here that I'm interest it.

I've said it before and I will say it again

Get a hobby..... AND YOU MUST LIKE IT!
Not get a hobby to get a hobby, but get a hobby to enjoy it!
Well, I'm already in band and I enjoy that. I have a few friends there, but I hardly even know most of the people in the band. Now, I know what your thinking, ask someone to just get together and jam with them, right? Nah, most people and band, while good, usually wouldn't be interested in straight out "jamming" unless your a good friend of theirs or just wouldn't have the time. Also, a huge stereotype people have about band is that it's filled with geeks and let me tell you, that's a damn lie. There are actually a lot of popular people, jocks and good looking girls who attend band. So yeah, the whole 'band=geek club' thing is just a stereotype/

Another problem I have, is that I have a bad reputation, which I plan on changing. You see, most people see me as the guy weird, quiet, reserved guy and most of it isn't far from the truth. I sit alone at lunch, while everybody socializes at the end of class, I just sit there alone, we had this band member exclusive dance called the military ball, I didn't go because I was to damn insecure, because I know that people think of me as a quiet guy, I had my set that, "Ah... no one's going to dance with me and when people socialize, I'll just be the one sitting there in the corner. Sure, the food and the music is good, but... it just doesn't sound like a good idea" and yes, many times I do let other peoples impressions of me get in the way of what I do. For example, there's this chick that rides my bus named Allison, who's in my grade and lives only a couple houses down from mine. I was going to say "Hey, how's it going?", but then I thought, "What if the spectators, who think I'm a reserved, quiet guy, see me and I mess up or say something corny, while trying to mack the chick? What if I end up looking stupid? What if she rejects me? What if she stumps me and I can't think of anything to say? What should I talk to her about?" I was so damn insecure, it was pathetic.
 

Holland

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Mmm I see where you're coming from with the whole reputation thing.

I suggest, you change something about your looks (for the better) after a vacation (or even a weekend if you can't wait that long). Some people will (subconciously) notice. Also change your behaviour. Do not go sit at alone at lunch. Go out and do some business during lunch. Just small talk to different people.

Also:
You see, most people see me as the guy weird, quiet, reserved guy and most of it isn't far from the truth. I sit alone at lunch, while everybody socializes at the end of class, I just sit there alone, we had this band member exclusive dance called the military ball, I didn't go because I was to damn insecure, because I know that people think of me as a quiet guy, I had my set that, "Ah... no one's going to dance with me and when people socialize, I'll just be the one sitting there in the corner.
@This whole thing:

In order to change that, you first need to stop seeing yourself as the guy weird, quiet, reserved guy. If you see yourself as the guy weird, quiet, reserved guy then you will be exactly that, and if you keep seeing yourself this way you will be it for the rest of your life.
Now I can imagine that changing this self-image is hard, but you have to do it, for you're own good. It won't happen overnight. But you can work on it. Believe me, I did it and it helped me out. Now, I wasn't as far off as you (no offense) but it helped me out.

(I only had/have a problem with dealing romanticly with attractive women, had some results and improvement and on the way for more)
 

we all eat food

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yo bro what do all day,

give me the websites and the forums you post at.

oh and bro i think you have social anxiety disorder. go fix it. and take chances like make ONE friend then get there number and call them up and say you wanna chill or something. If i knew you i would becoem your bff and i would play chess and we would all eat food. but bro just take chances and goto a pshychiatrist
 

Viper

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Originally posted by we all eat food
yo bro what do all day,

give me the websites and the forums you post at.

oh and bro i think you have social anxiety disorder. go fix it. and take chances like make ONE friend then get there number and call them up and say you wanna chill or something. If i knew you i would becoem your bff and i would play chess and we would all eat food. but bro just take chances and goto a pshychiatrist
I wish it was that serious. Come on dude, it's not a disorder, no need even take it that far. Honestly, I don't know if I would or not because I don't know the symptons, but honestly, I do NOT think that it is that serious man. I'm INSECURE, I have a natural human instinct called FEAR, that keeps me from being social, but does that really make me have a disorder? Maybe it does, but I really don't think its that serious. If this makes me have a social anxiety disorder, I think that 50% of the teen males in America have social anxiety disorder. Some people just aren't born with good social skills okay, dude? That doesn't mean they have a disorder.
 

Smooth Player 056

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Viper PM me.......ill send you a the Secret Hypnosis program I got a while ago......it is very intense stuff.

~Smooth

PS I dont want a 100000000 pm's for this program...Viper needs the extra confidence.
 
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cablecow15

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i had this problem once (and i also have no conversation skills)
i would just hang around a
certin group of pepole id like
to be friends with no follow them but
sit around them you eventualy
they will say somthing to you
i made friends before with a
hacky sac just bring one and
start playing and soon enough pepole will come
 

oakraiderz2

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Originally posted by cablecow15
i had this problem once (and i also have no conversation skills)
i would just hang around a
certin group of pepole id like
to be friends with no follow them but
sit around them you eventualy
they will say somthing to you
i made friends before with a
hacky sac just bring one and
start playing and soon enough pepole will come
Not to be an ass or anything but you dont know anything about anything...dont give advice.
 

Holland

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Some people just aren't born with good social skills okay, dude?
Nobody is born with good social skills
 
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