Well... I recently turned 21... I'm on the autism spectrum, and am just really lonely. I've never had a friend in-person before... I've tried making friends when I was younger, in school and such, and completely failed. I have memories as young as in 2nd grade where teachers would yell at me for not interacting with other students, of course they never took the time to show me how to appropriately interact... I didn't get an official diagnosis until I was in like 5th grade... by that time, it was just too late, in their eyes, to help me. I was basically denied all the services I needed, and their accommodations they made for me helped me out in school, but it made things worse socially... Like in middle school I rarely went to class. I would do my assignments in the case managers office, alone. Other students would harass me, and rather than dealing with them, their solution was to pull me out of classes. We had seven classes a day, I would attend two, maybe three. In high school, the solution was to not have me go to any classes at all. I did it ALL online through an online independent study program, where, once again, I sat in either a case managers office, or in the resource room, and did my school assignments on my laptop, alone, all day. School failed me socially. I never got the help I needed. I just want a friend... a companion... but I literally don't really know how to interact with others. I can communicate very well through typing, but not so much verbally, and I'm terrible at social interaction. Now that I'm done with school, I'm stuck alone for a good part of the day... when all I want is a friend. I am just lonely. I find things to do to keep myself busy, but I just don't care for being alone like this - all day - every day. I want my mom to take me places, but she says she is tired when she comes home from work. All week I've been asking her to take me bowling or to the park. I've tried many things, but in the end, I feel like the people who were supposed to help me, had instead failed me, because it would have been too much work to appropriately accomidate me. I should have been sent to a special school, but naturally, because of money, I wasn't.
I'm sorry you feel so lonely, the only advice I can think to give would just finding a way to "get out there" so you can make some friends. Keep being persistent with your mom.
Do you know of any of your mother's friends who may have children around your age? Would you be able to go out with any of them? What about any cousins? Maybe there are some kids your age? I don't know if this is good advice or not, but sometimes I find it hard to talk to strangers or people I don't know that well. I usually ask them questions about themselves. Maybe asking them about their taste in music or their favourite tv shows/movies. Find some kind of common interest, and then talk about that. I met one of my friends on the school bus, we took the same school bus home and sat together and just started talking about art. We were both taking art at the time, and 6 years later, we're still really good friends. Maybe just try to start out small, and then eventually your relationships can grow into friendships. and (*hug*) i hope some of this helps
Well, you know you have many friends here at EC. But you need a person to be there in person huh? I like RueBea85's wisdom. Try to see if your extended family can help. Also --and this is going to sound corny-- be yourself! Don't worry about the haters. Also maybe you can go back to school, I loved my time in community college. I took classes that I was interested in and it forced me to learn to drive. Plus maybe if you take a class that interests you, you can find someone who has similar interests.
Hey dude, most people actually lack decent social skills. I can tell you have the compassion to be nice to others which is a quality I'd prefer over those who are barbaric and almost "too outgoing" around others. I'm sorry to hear that you're lonely, but I am, too. I think a few of us here can relate. Are you thinking of attending college? Maybe that'll spark your interests and you can meet people through there (which was mentioned above.) I personally find it easier to click with people in prepatory/college than in high school since everyone in my classes shares the same interests as myself. Have you thought of joining any local clubs, as well? Maybe a local LGBT group could do you well. Or anything of your general interest, really.
