i think talking to someone - whether it be a professional or a friend - would help a lot.

i actually went through something similar in my early 20’s where i developed sheer social anxiety. talking to a good friend of mine definitely helped. while i wouldnt say ive shaken it entirely i probably outwardly appear ‘normal’ or confident to most people which is a good start lol.

mental issues can be improved given time and treatment much like anything physical.

Lmao I also been rehearsing almost everything I say since I was like 5 years old, mental health issues or not, we both some certified weirdos outchea my man

Sounds like you're crazy just like the rest of us. Welcome.

Yeah this is me lol. I can sorta do conversations with people I really know but a lot of times I struggle to come up with something to say on the fly.

I wouldn't worry so much about a diagnosis tbh

Autism? Maybe aspergers perhaps

I relate to talking to myself and having imaginary conversations and I saw a therapist who said I was somewhere on the spectrum. However, I am pretty good at following social queues and reading a room. Sometimes I just choose to say “edgy” things and be inappropriate to spice up a social interaction. Or else I’ll just end up talking about the weather or where people went to college which Is boring. But it’s all self aware.

Like someone earlier said, the pandemic probably hasn't helped with your struggle socializing.

The best advice I can give you is to take it day by day. The easiest way I know how to keep a conversation going is to literally "play 20 questions" like we used to do as kids. (Maybe you played this game, maybe you didn't)
I'll just keep asking stuff that sooner or later turns into a conversation. I've had people ask me simple questions like "what music do you like?" Or "what's your favorite color?" Which then turned into full conversations. My friend and I ended up spending 20 minutes talking about colors just off that one question.

I don't want to tell you how to "fix" your issues, so I hope this advice helps.

Were you ever diagnosed with ADD?

Do you happen to do that ?

i mean ofc its not good but you are not a wreck lol dont be too hard on yourself but have the ambition and dedication to improve yourself

That’s something I’ve had to deal with since a kid

You learn ways around certain things but if it really is ADD like in my case adderall helps balance things out

Took a long time to develop certain listening skills or ways to not space out but it’s possible even though it’ll still get rough for me especially in bigger groups of people.

I still have these faux conversations pop up in my head from time to time but I usually catch myself before it turns into an all out day dream but that’s just something that happens, you’re not crazy for it.

Like I said if I were you I’d get checked to see if you may have ADHD/ADD (the inattentive variant which I have) by a professional and go from there. You can’t do anything helpful until you KNOW what it is you’re struggling with.

at least you're self aware

some of you guys should realize these traits are just how you are, there is absolutely no reason to associate it to a diagnosis

yeah sure maybe you went to the doctor and they said you're this or that but it means nothing, anyone could walk into the office and get some "diagnosis" in some direction

If anything in some cases it's going to make your life worse because then you run around thinking you're "sick"

Are there cases when a doctor is needed? Of course, but the vast majority? not really

Getting friends its not that hard, you have just to be nice to nearly everyone

Sounds like a good way to attract manipulators

Real friends..how many of them?

You mention recently. How recent is recent? Before or after quarantine? Would you say there is a connection to a decline in sociality and any specific life event?

Talking to yourself and rehearsing in your head are not weird behavior, trust me. I do it a lot, a lot of my neurotypical friends do it. I think excessive rehearsing could become a form of maladaptive daydreaming tho, but its a relatively new study.

Id say dont beat yourself up Grif. You a cool person regardless and if people cant see that then theyre not worth being social towards

Being nice to everyone means you can fake s*** though

As how much you can be useful for people arround you.

You too bro!

just saying but I hate it when I get interviewed in a conversation

start observing more instead of being in your head all the time @op

why

what’s the correlation i wanna hear it

You're not autistic, you are introverted and like to keep for yourself. You are also probably shy and do not have enough courage to say certain things. This is normal and nothing to worry about. Take time on building yourself, your character, believe in yourself and profit of the situation you find yourself in. If you talk to yourself a lot, make sure that you have serious conversations once in a while regarding certain things, and force out a genuine answer. This is very much self therapy and will help you a lot in how you visualize things. As for not knowing when others are being genuine, this is just how society is. It's hard to tell who is real and who isn't, don't stress yourself too much over it; after all, YOU are the only one who controls how you react to a certain situation. You need to know certain people very well before you realise how they act and how genuine they are, but that's life really. Keep working on yourself and you'll reap the profits in no time. All love