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citoyenlambda
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

Joined: 13 Dec 2016
Gender: Male
Posts: 51

11 Aug 2017, 3:28 pm

After a hiatus, I'm going back to school to learn a trade. I have thought long and hard about what kind of life I wanted during that time and I've decided that all I want to do is to do the necessary minimum to "pass". To wit, I have spent a decade trying to improve my social skills and it seems that very little changed. I have been told that it's very easy to see through me. I always seem off and creepy, especially when things take a turn for the more intimate (as opposed to formal). I'm sick and tired of having to wear a mask and the two years I have spent not wearing one (since I have limited contact with others during that time) have been extremely liberating. If I could I would do so forever, but I need to endure a bit of mingling so that I may acquire a trade and make some money for a nest egg.

I don't want friends or relationships with women. It would be pretty easy to scare everyone off by just letting my natural tendencies shine through or by simply being blunt about what I want and don't want, but the problem is that in so doing I would put a target on my back for bullying/professional harassment/rumour-mongering and the like. I want every interaction that I have to be limited in time and scope to the strictly professional. I want to be the person that flies under the radar of everyone and just isn't bothered with anything.

The problem is that I'm not sure how exactly to project that aura. How do I make people understand I'm not interested without singling myself out as a weirdo and thus fair game? I have to be just nice enough for people to like me in a superficial manner but I also have to make it clear that I don't want anything to do with anyone. I've spent so long with limited social contact that I don't even want it anymore - I think it's just annoying. I know that if I'm stuck in a team doing work, people will ask probing questions. I thought about being blunt ("I don't want to learn to know you, I just want to get this over with") but I know that I'm going to be singled out if I do that. I don't really know how to evade questions or give non-answers. I've tried being friendly before and that nearly always ended in a catastrophe as I make a poor act of being NT. I don't know how to pull the wallflower balancing act. Tips?

I'm going to talk with student services, if I'm lucky maybe I'll be able to get out of all teamwork (which is my principal fear). I wish I were invisible, but I am not - I have to be the closest thing to it though else I don't think I'll keep my sanity for long.


_________________
Dites-nous où c'est caché, ça doit faire au moins mille fois qu'on a bouffé nos doigts.


naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,189
Location: temperate zone

11 Aug 2017, 5:30 pm

Either...

1) get the skills to survive alone in the woods as a hermit.

or

2) Give your dream of being "inncusous" because failing (1) its impossible.



IgA
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 20 Aug 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 201

11 Aug 2017, 6:07 pm

Don't know what you look like or sound or smell like to know what attracts people to you. Figure that out & maybe change it so they are not attracted to you. I have something about me that people don't like, but I don't know what it is. If I knew I could tell you & then people would leave you alone like they do me (which I like very much). The only thing is, many people are immature where I live, even old people, & they will sometimes pick on me passive aggressively. That is the trade-off for people not liking you. There is no middle -- no acquaintance level relationship with people. I have discovered that to be a myth, especially if you encounter the same people in school over the course of a semester. Most people want to make friends. If you are not their friend, then they see you as an enemy. I'm sorry to bring you this bad news, but this is just my experience. It might be different where you live.