Advice for making friends?

[crazyhairman]

I know there's no easy answer to this question, but I'll post it anyway, just in case I get some useful feedback.

Improving my social isolation is one of my goals at the moment, but it's kind of hard to get the ball rolling. I've come up with a few decent strategies to meet people, but I always end up backing down.

For example, there's a music festival a couple hours from where I live in May, which I'd like to attend to meet some fellow EDM enthusiasts, but I think I'd have to drive. I have a lot of driving anxiety because I just don't feel that my brain is wired for driving. I get distracted by my own thoughts extremely easily. I've been that way since I was in grade school, when my teachers noticed I had a lot of trouble paying attention in class. I'm grateful that I was born with this attribute, because I think it's an indispensable tool for creativity and problem-solving, but it makes it hard to participate in ordinary society. I don't have confidence in my ability to safely operate a vehicle, which just makes the problem even worse. So, the end result is that my driving anxiety combined with a preexisting social phobia is enough to sway me to give up and stay home, and continue to be isolated. Ironically, if I already had a friend who would be interested in carpooling with me to the event, I would be a lot more relaxed about it than I am about going alone.

How should I navigate my phobias and limitations to have a rich social life?

Pretty normal concerns actually, a lot of us here had some type of social anxiety we've delt with. And I still dislike driving ( although I'm a very safe driver). Just be open about it. Most people will completely understand that feeling. I've kinda outgrown the worst of mine I think.

Walling yourself off from new experiences makes anxiety worse. I know it seems counter intuitive, but it's important for people like you and me to make efforts to socialize. You build a little confidence , you'll figure out your alot of fun to be around.

Friends can be anywhere, and road trips are better in a group anyway. I've made some of my best memories with people I had just met. Like hey man I'm going to marly fest you wanna ride and get baked.

Idk lol it's easy after a while